The Brno Regional Court today sentenced a 20-year-old man to seven years in prison for an attempted arson attack on a Brno synagogue in 2024. The man was convicted of an attempted terrorist attack, attempted murder and other offences, and subsequently received two years extra on his sentence for supporting the promotion of terrorism.
The maximum possible sentence in the main case was ten years, since the defendant committed some of the acts while still a minor. The young man confessed to most of the crimes.
Due to the defendant’s young age at the time, the court held closed-door proceedings from the outset; only the verdict was announced publicly. The defendant is in custody and was brought to court under escort.
The prosecution says the man committed the attack on the synagogue in January 2024 with another minor, who is not criminally liable due to his young age. According to the verdict, the pair attempted to set the synagogue on fire using an improvised device. Police uncovered the case while investigating a group that was spreading hateful content on social media and promoting terrorist organisations.
“I consider this case to be groundbreaking in a way, because it reflects a change in the behaviour of juvenile offenders, who are committing crimes in a completely different manner and with a different level of brutality than before,” said prosecutor Petra Lastovecka after the court ruling was announced. “There is almost no motive here, because the perpetrator committed the attempted murder just for fun.”
The sentence handed down to the perpetrator also includes an attempted murder from March 2024. Together with another accomplice, who is also not criminally liable due to his age, the defendant targeted a physically frail man living on the margins of society. First, they got him drunk, then they attacked him. The man survived the attack and sought help.
In connection with the attempted murder, the sentence also includes extortion, as the young man allegedly threatened a witness to the attack with violence if she helped the victim or reported the crime. The sentence also includes a previous sentence imposed by the court for bodily injury and other offences.
Furthermore, the court also convicted the man of disseminating harmful content online, specifically for promoting Islamic terrorist organisations and inciting anti-Semitism between 2023 and 2025.
