On Tuesday, a German court convicted five individuals of belonging to a Daesh local cell that received orders from a senior Daesh commander in Afghanistan.
Tajik citizens aged 25 to 34 were sentenced to severe jail terms by a regional court in Düsseldorf.
Sunatullokh K., whose surname was withheld owing to German privacy laws, received the longest sentence of nine years and six months. He was also found guilty of plotting to murder a guy who had made disparaging remarks about Islam. Authorities were able to thwart the attempt.
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The other men, identified as Muhammad Ali G., Azizjon B., Farhodshoh K., and Komron B., were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 44 months to 8.5 years for terrorist organization membership, with some also convicted of involvement in plans to carry out a contract killing in Albania that was later abandoned.
Last year, the same court convicted Ravsan B. of Daesh membership for co-founding the German cell and supporting two planned assaults. He received a seven-year jail term.
Prosecutors said the men honed their military skills in paintball games, and that participants in those included “other people from the [extremist] scene” who were in contact with the gunman who killed four people in an attack in Vienna in November 2020. They also allegedly acquired components for an “unconventional” bomb.
Federal prosecutors had sought prison terms of between four and 12 years for the men. Their lawyers had asked the court to acquit them.
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