ISIS-supporting Uzbek man who killed five people ‘to punish Sweden’ is convicted of terror-related murder
The terrorist who killed five people and wounded 14 others in a horrifying attack in Stockholm has been jailed.
Rakmat Akilov, an Uzbek national, drove a stolen truck into a crowd on April 7, 2017.
Terrifying scenes unfolded on the day of the attack when Akilov hijacked a brewery company truck and mowed down crowds at the Ahlens department store, leaving bloodied bodies littered all over the roadside.
His truck smashed into the corner of the shop and the cab began to smoke. The Uzbek father-of-four ran away and was later detained in Marsta, 25 miles from Stockholm.
On Thursday, he was convicted of terror-related murder and given a life sentence.
Akilov had said he wanted to punish Sweden for joining a coalition against Islamic State.
The dead were later revealed to be a British man, a Belgian woman and three Swedes, including an 11-year-old girl named Ebba Åkerlund.
Chris Bevington, 41, a British father who was director of global partnerships at the music streaming service Spotify was killed in the Stockholm terror attack.
Judge Ragnar Palmkvist said Akilov, 40, was the only suspect in the attack, while prosecutor Hans Ihrman called him a ‘security risk to society’ during his trial at the Stockholm District Court.
The prosecution had demanded a life sentence, while defence lawyer Johan Eriksson said his client had been co-operative throughout the investigation and should be given a time-limited sentence.
During the court proceedings that started in February Mr Ihrman said ‘Akilov took the right to determine the fate of so many people. Now it is the turn of the democratic rule of law to determine the fate of Akilov’.
After ploughing the truck into a crowd of shoppers on a busy shopping street and crashing into the upscale Ahlens department store in Stockholm’s city centre, Akilov also planned to blow himself up.
He failed, and caused a smaller explosion inside the truck when a suspected bomb made of five gas canisters with dozens of screws, blades and smaller metal objects went off.
Akilov then escaped via Stockholm’s subway system but was arrested hours later in a suburb.
He was found guilty of five counts of terror-related murder, 119 counts of attempted murder and 24 cases of endangering the life of others.
Judge Palmkvist said the fact that Akilov had been co-operative and had confessed did not have any influence on the lifetime sentence, which is the heaviest penalty in Sweden and is normally about 18 years.
The court sentenced Akilov to be expelled from Sweden after he serves his sentence and banned him from returning.
Akilov was born in Uzbekistan and worked there as a construction worker.
He came to Sweden in 2014 and applied for asylum, claiming he had been persecuted.
His application was rejected and he was ordered to leave Sweden in December 2016.
Instead he went underground, eluding the authorities’ attempts to track him down.
Sweden’s domestic intelligence agency has said it had nothing indicating that he was planning an attack.
On April 6 – the eve of the attack – Akilov swore allegiance to IS. Investigators found video footage on his phone in which he said ‘it is time to kill’.
During the trial, evidence showed how Akilov used 53 Sim cards and social media – including WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, Facebook and Zello – to communicate with others about his activities.
Source: Daily Mail
