Chechen man sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempted terrorism

[News_Editor]

Chechen man sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempted terrorism

2011-05-31 21:59:49 GMT+7 (ICT)

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (BNO NEWS) -- A Chechen man on Tuesday was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his participation in an attempted terrorist attack in Denmark, the Copenhagen Post reported.

Lors Doukaev, 25, was found guilty by a Copenhagen court of planning to send a letter bomb to the newspaper that published the Mohammed cartoon in 2005, which angered the Muslim community.

The defendant, a Chechnya native, was arrested in a Copenhagen park on September 10, 2010, shortly after an explosion rocked the Hotel Jorgensen. Doukaev accidentally set off the explosive device.

The 25-year-old Belgium resident only injured himself in the incident. He was charged with attempting to commit a terrorist act, as well as illegally possessing an explosive device and a firearm. He will be deported after completing his prison term.

Doukaev told the court he was disarming the package when it accidentally exploded. He claimed the bomb was intended for protecting himself from other Chechens while staying in at the hotel.

However, the six-member jury determined that the evidence showed that Doukaev's target was the Jyllands-Posten office building, a local newspaper that published a cartoon of the prophet Mohammad in 2005.

According to the evidence, envelops and computer records showed that the target was the newspaper. In addition, the explosive device was fashioned following a manual found in Liege, Belgium, where a defendant's friend lived.

Last December, Denmark’s Security and Intelligence Service (PET) disrupted a terrorist attack against the local newspaper's building. PET arrested five individuals suspected of preparing the attack, four in Denmark and the other in Sweden.

On January 1, 2010, a Somali man was arrested after he attempted to murder Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, the author of the controversial cartoon. Mohamed Geele, 29, broke into the residence using an axe.

The Danish cartoonist locked himself in the panic room of his house while the Somali man attempted to break down the reinforced door. The Somali man desisted but was arrested by police officers.

The court found him guilty of terrorism, attempted murder of Westergaard, attempted murder of a policeman and attacking with an axe another policeman in a vehicle. At sentencing, Geele received a 9-year prison term.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-05-31