Swede sentenced for planning chemical terror attack at Eurovision
Kyiv • UNN
A Luxembourg court has sentenced a 23-year-old Swede to eight years in prison for planning a terror attack at Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam. He was arrested in 2020 after a bomb-making workshop and attack plans, which included cyanide and chlorine poisoning, were discovered.
A Luxembourg court on Thursday sentenced a 23-year-old Swede to prison for planning a terrorist attack at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, UNN reports with reference to Politico.
Details
He was sentenced to eight years in prison with six years suspended. This decision concludes a multi-year investigation that uncovered a sophisticated bomb-making operation and links to international extremist networks.
The defendant, identified as Alexander H., was found guilty of participating in a terrorist organization, as well as numerous violations of European firearms and explosives laws, local newspaper Luxemburger Wort reported.
Assistant prosecutor David Lenz in July demanded a 12-year prison sentence, arguing that only the actions of Luxembourg police and intelligence services helped prevent mass casualties.
The man was arrested in February 2020 after Luxembourg authorities discovered a professionally equipped bomb-making workshop in the basement of his father's house in Strassen, central Luxembourg.
Investigators found TATP, nitroglycerin, a ready-made improvised explosive device, and a bomb package addressed to a Swedish film company. A French explosives expert told the court that he had never seen a more advanced scheme in a terrorism case.
According to the court, the defendant, who was 18 at the time, had been planning attacks in Sweden and the Netherlands for months, including a planned mass-casualty attack on the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest, which was later canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Investigators found a Google document titled "Fun Time for Eurovision 2020 - For a Better and Less Overly Susceptible Future," co-authored with a suspected Dutch accomplice, outlining plans to poison participants with cyanide or ricin, release chlorine gas, or disperse chemicals through ventilation systems or specially made rockets, national broadcaster RTL reported in July. Police later confirmed the seizure of materials for chlorine production and rocket prototypes.
The pair also explored ways to infiltrate security services, block emergency exits, and conduct secondary attacks, including a planned strike on an oil depot in Nacka, Sweden, for which the accused had already created a map of vulnerabilities in the facility's perimeter fence.
Dutch police questioned but did not arrest the alleged accomplice. The prosecutor's office in Rotterdam stated that the man did not actually intend to carry out an attack, Dutch newspaper Het Parool reported on Thursday.
According to authorities, "the man's plans were influenced by his involvement in extremist networks such as The Base, a neo-Nazi paramilitary group," Swedish newspaper SVT reported in August.
The suspended portion of the man's prison sentence is contingent on his completion of a five-year deradicalization program and submitting progress reports to prosecutors every six months. Failure to comply will result in the reinstatement of the full prison term.
The man and the prosecutor now have 40 days to appeal.