Trial begins in Dielsdorf: 17-year-old faces court for knife attack on Orthodox Jew

According to the indictment, the defendant planned the attack over several weeks. On the evening of March 2, 2024, at around 9 p.m., he went to the stairs of a Zurich synagogue where, at that moment, a service with at least fifty worshippers was taking place. When the door was locked, he decided, according to the indictment, «to find someone» and identified his later victim — a 50-year-old family father — from behind as an Orthodox Jew.

In a four-minute video published before the attack, the defendant introduced himself as a «soldier of the caliphate» and called for violence against Jews and Christians. A few hours before the attack, on the afternoon of March 1, he purchased a steak knife. The night before, he had announced his intention on a social network. During the attack, his mobile phone, in his jacket pocket, ran continuously in audio mode.

Online radicalization and propaganda video

According to the indictment, the defendant stabbed the victim a total of 17 times with the knife. In a livestream launched in parallel — which was supposed to last around forty minutes so that «the world could follow the events online» — the attack was to be broadcast live. Bystanders held the juvenile down until the police arrived. After his arrest, according to an audio recording, he threatened members of the victim's family and shouted IS slogans.

According to investigators, the juvenile radicalized himself online beginning in August 2023, spending several hours daily on propaganda websites and forums of the so-called Islamic State (IS) and exchanging ideas with like-minded individuals. As early as January 2024, he is said to have been preoccupied with the oath of allegiance (bayat) to IS. According to the indictment, he wanted to «take revenge on the Jews for their alleged atrocities against Muslims around the world.» He also consumed and distributed banned violent videos from the terrorist militia.

Expert and procedural framework

The defendant, naturalized in Switzerland in 2011, was — according to information from earlier interrogations — driven by the plan to be killed by the police after the attack and to enter paradise as an assailant. Before the trial, he is said to have been enrolled in school in the city of Zurich; in 2022, the family moved to the outskirts of the city and later to the Glatt Valley. At the start of the trial, the defendant did not comment on the matter; the presumption of innocence applies to him.

During the trial, psychiatrist Leonardo Vertone, among others, is expected to be heard. He has been co-director of the Center for Child and Juvenile Forensic Psychiatry at the Psychiatric University Hospital of Zurich since 2020 and is expected to provide expert testimony on the defendant's background. The parties involved anticipate that his questions will help shed further light on how the then-15-year-old could become an Islamist attacker.

The Juvenile Prosecutor's demand

The attack immediately triggered political dismay. Islamic organizations in Switzerland sharply condemned the assault; Jewish organizations warned of a «frightening new level of escalation.» The trial is being conducted at the Dielsdorf District Court because the defendant was not yet 16 at the time of the offense and therefore cannot be brought before a court operating under adult criminal law. When the verdict will be handed down was initially unclear.

The Juvenile Prosecutor's Office justifies the maximum sentence of one year with, among other factors, the systematic preparation of the attack, the distribution of a claim-of-responsibility video, and the livestreaming of the act online. At the same time, it pointed to the protective measures intended to continue providing the defendant with close support after serving his sentence. The defense announced that it would address the charges in the course of the proceedings.