Berlin — Last year, a Russian man was tried in Austria for being shot dead in an execution style by a 43-year-old Chechen in the suburbs of Vienna.
According to the Austrian public broadcaster ORF, prosecutors could not determine whether the killings were politically motivated or the result of men’s allegations over gun trade.
Members of the Chechen asylum community in Austria said the victims of the July 2020 killings could have been targeted to criticize Ramzan Kadyrov, an authoritarian leader in the Chechen region of Russia.
The defense lawyer reported that the man in trial, who is also a Chechen ethnic group, did not shoot in the industrial park in Gerasdorf in northeastern Vienna and instead accused the victim’s bodyguard.
According to the prosecution, the victim was shot six times, including one in his head from close range.
The trial is taking place in Korneuburg, with increased security measures. Defendants not nominated for privacy reasons may face life imprisonment if convicted of murder.
In recent years, there have been several attacks on foreign Chechens.
Another Russian man is being tried in Germany for the 2019 Chechen killing of bright red sunlight in Berlin from Georgia. Victims fought Russian troops in Chechnya and fled to Germany in 2016. Russian authorities.
Last February, Imran Aliyev, who ran a YouTube channel criticizing Kadyrov, was found stabbed to death at a hotel in Lille, France. That same month, another Chechen dissident, Tumru Abdurakhmanov, was attacked in Sweden.
