A woman who allegedly slashed people with a blade in an upmarket Swiss shop was yesterday to face allegations that she committed a “terrorist act” in the name of the Islamic State (IS) group.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of brutally attacking randomly selected people with a knife “with the aim of killing them and thereby spreading terror.”
She has yet to enter a plea.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The attack, which did not result in fatalities, took place on Nov. 24, 2020, in the plush Manor department store in Lugano, southern Switzerland.
The 29-year-old woman’s mental state is at the heart of the trial at the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, in the Italian-speaking Ticino region, where the incident played out.
Since the trial opened on Monday, the court has heard that the woman has been in contact with psychologists and psychiatrists since childhood.
Psychiatrist Carlo Calanchini told the court that the suspect suffers from psychological disorders.
He estimated that she knew very little about jihadism — and much less than anyone who read the newspapers.
Prosecutors said she “acted wilfully and with particular ruthlessness,” and shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) several times and “I will avenge the Prophet Mohammed.”
She declared: “I am here for IS,” the prosecutors said.
One of the two victims suffered a serious neck injury. She is attending the trial and is a civil party in the case, claiming 440,000 Swiss francs (US$451,060).
The second sustained wounds on one hand and managed, with others, to control the assailant until police arrived.
The suspect is primarily charged with attempted murder and breaching laws against association with al-Qaeda, the IS and related groups.
She is also charged with repeated unlawful prostitution between 2017 and 2020.
The accused woman showed no remorse when she was questioned by the presiding judge on Monday.
“If I could go back, I would do it better... with accomplices,” she told the court.
She explained that she wanted to act on Dec. 24, 2020, before bringing things forward by a month, fearing there would be too much security on Christmas Eve.
Having discovered IS on social media, she said she had planned for “months, years” to “do something” for the group and show that she was “capable of carrying out a terrorist act.”
The daughter of a Swiss father and a Serbian mother, her adolescence was marked by anorexia and she did not attend secondary school. She converted to Islam at age 19.
After falling in love over social media in 2017 with an IS fighter in Syria, she attempted to meet him, but was stopped by Turkish authorities at the Syrian border and sent back to Switzerland where she was admitted to a psychiatric clinic, police said.
She has been receiving medical treatment in pretrial custody.
Two psychiatric experts told the court that she should be placed in a closed institution where she can continue to benefit from psychiatric care.
The verdict is expected on Sept. 19.
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