Czech court jails man for synagogue arson plot

A court in Brno, the Czech Republic’s second-largest city, has sentenced a man to seven years in prison over an attempted terrorist attack and attempted murder linked to an arson attempt on a synagogue.

The Brno court ruled on April 28 that the defendant, now 20, was involved in an incident in January 2024 in which two minors allegedly tried to set fire to a synagogue using an improvised device, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

The attack also included an attempt on the life of an individual who survived.

In addition to the seven-year custodial sentence, the defendant received a further two-year term for promoting terrorism, an offence committed after reaching the age of 18.

His accomplice, who was under the age of criminal responsibility at the time of trial, was not tried in open court; proceedings in that case were held behind closed doors.

According to Czech authorities, the pair were among a group of five teenagers arrested last year over alleged online radicalisation linked to the militant Islamic State group. Investigators said the group had shared extremist material on social media, including content targeting minorities, Jewish communities and LGBTQ+ people.

Officials also said the suspects were active in online networks associated with extremist propaganda and recruitment, and that police operations in Czechia and Austria led to the seizure of weapons, including knives, machetes, axes and gas pistols.

The investigation was conducted jointly with authorities in Austria, the United Kingdom and Slovakia, as well as Europol.

By Aghakazim Guliyev