Austrian authorities to remember victims of terrorist attack in 2020
Austrian authorities plan on Tuesday to remember the victims of the terrorist attack in Vienna on Nov. 2, 2020.
In St Rupert’s Church, President Alexander Van der Bellen, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg, as well as National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka.
Also, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, among others, plans to take part in a service to remember the four dead and the more than 20 injured.
Young musicians, who were practicing in the church near the crime scene at the time, are expected to provide the music at the event in the late afternoon.
Other memorial services are to take place across the country.
On Nov. 2, 2020, a 20-year-old former convict, who was a sympathizer of the Islamic State militia, went on a rampage in a popular Viennese neighborhood.
He killed four and injured more than 20 but the perpetrator was shot dead by police.
On the anniversary of the attack, victims’ lawyers are demanding apologies from the state and admission of investigative mishaps.
“We see clear misconduct from the authorities,” lawyer Lukas Bittighofer told dpa.
He represents the mother of a then 24-year-old German student who was shot dead.
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Since the attack, an investigating commission has found mistakes in the run-up to the crime.
Investigators had been aware of a meeting between the perpetrator and other Islamists, as well as his attempt to buy ammunition.
However, the public prosecutor’s office was not informed.
At the end of September, the government set up a compensation fund with 2.2 million euros (2.55 million dollars) for terror victims.
But that was not enough, said lawyer Karl Newole.
“Nobody has said: We are sorry.”(dpa/NAN)
