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14-year-old facing terrorism charges in Austria

Xinhua, March 31, 2015 Adjust font size:

A 14-year-old teenager was charged with forming a terrorist organization and downloading bomb-making plans with intent to commit a terrorist offence, Austrian authorities confirmed Monday.

The teenager, referred to as "Merkan G," is accused by the St. Poelten prosecutor's office of downloading exact plans for the construction of a bomb on the internet, which he then planned to detonate at either the Wien Westbahnhof railway station in Vienna, or along the tracks leading to it, Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported.

Additionally, prosecutor office spokesperson Michaela Obenaus said he had become enamored with terrorist militia Islamic State (IS), with authorities finding "countless" IS propaganda photos and videos of beheadings, torture, mass executions and the like on his laptop.

According to the teenager himself, he planned to travel to Syria to take part in IS activities, and is believed to have persuaded a 12-year-old boy to join him.

A psychological report on the teenager claims that after coming to Austria with his parents as an asylum seeker in 2007, his father was deported. Psychologists said the boy has been so deeply radicalized and defends his beliefs.

He was first arrested in autumn last year, before being released in mid-November on the condition that he regularly reported to police, attend school and undertake psychological counseling.

After disappearing in January, he was later found and arrested once again and has been in custody in St. Poelten ever since.

Court proceedings are set to begin in May. Endit