Düsseldorf –
The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court has convicted five men as IS terrorists and sentenced them to up to nine and a half years in prison. According to the judges, the 25 to 34-year-old Islamists belonged to a terrorist cell of the Islamic State, which was supposed to carry out attacks in Germany on the instructions of leading IS cadres.
Two years ago, the men wanted to murder an Islam critic from Neuss, but the police were able to prevent the attack. Before their arrest, the five Tajiks lived in different cities in North Rhine-Westphalia. The court imposed three years and eight months in prison as the lowest sentence on Tuesday.
The federal prosecutor had demanded prison sentences of between four and twelve years, the defense lawyers acquittals or, at most, short prison sentences. Another suspected terrorist from the IS terrorist cell was sentenced to seven years in prison last year. The trial of the five accused began a year ago. (dpa)
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