Austria’s government wants to introduce a kind of security custody for convicted terrorists. The plans presented on Tuesday were drawn up in response to the Vienna terror attack of early November. At that time, an IS sympathizer who had been released early from custody had killed four people and injured 23 others.
The new regulation should apply to recidivist offenders who have been sentenced to more than one year in prison in the past. If the new sentence exceeds one and a half years and there is a risk of further terrorist acts, an additional security custody can be ordered for up to ten years.
Legal hurdle gets lower
The legal hurdle for such custody would therefore be lower for terrorists than for other repeat offenders, confirmed a spokeswoman for Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens). According to current law, violent and sexual criminals can only be locked away after a third conviction for the protection of the public. The Parliament first has to deal with the planned change in the law.
In view of several government failures in the run-up to the attack, a commission of experts recommended in February that constitutional protection be modernised and that its cooperation with the judiciary be strengthened, rather than the criminal law be tightened.
