Killers from Colombia failed to assassinate the target.
A 29-year-old man suspected of belonging to the Serbian-Montenegrin criminal gang "Škaljari" has been acquitted of involvement in an attempted murder charge at the "Landesgericht" court in Vienna on Tuesday evening. The charge was related to a conspiracy to assassinate a member of the rival "Kavač" gang, which was planned in the winter of 2020 in the "Ottakring" district of Vienna.
The jury, by a majority of six out of eight, found that the crime did not reach the stage of execution. Nevertheless, the young man was convicted of belonging to a criminal organization, as it was proven that he provided information and carried out surveillance on the target. The court sentenced him to the maximum penalty of three years in prison without the possibility of suspension, considering that the "incredibly high criminal energy" was an aggravating factor.
The investigation revealed that the plan involved bringing in professional killers from Colombia to carry out the assassination, but the execution failed due to communication issues, as the Colombians did not speak Serbian and vice versa. Additionally, a previous attempt to blow up the victim's car failed due to a technical malfunction.
The defendant remained silent during the trial and only stated that he was not guilty. The evidence against him was based on encrypted messages on "Crypto" phones used by the "Škaljari" gang, which were decrypted by foreign entities and handed over to the Austrian police. The defendant's defense considered this evidence illegal and insufficient for a conviction.
The court rejected the defense's objection and deemed the use of messages as evidence to be legitimate. The defendant was arrested in January 2024 at the border with Bosnia and was deported to Austria, where he has been in pre-trial detention since May.
The alleged victim, a 57-year-old man, said in court that he does not know why he was targeted and that he has no connection to any criminal organization, emphasizing that he is a father of six children and denies any association with drug gangs. He and his family also declined personal protection.
Investigations indicated that this scheme was a response to a murder that occurred outside the famous "Figlmüller" restaurant in December 2018, where a prominent member of the "Kavač" gang was assassinated. The conflict between the "Škaljari" and "Kavač" gangs has been ongoing for over ten years and has resulted in around 80 murders across Europe.