A Budapest court on Tuesday handed a 27-year-old man a suspended prison sentence of between six months and one year for sending emails threatening acts of terrorism to several police headquarters and Hungary’s counter-terrorism unit.

Budapest man sent multiple threatening emails

According to the indictment, the Budapest resident sent multiple emails on 15 January 2024 to the National Police Headquarters, the Rapid Response Police, and several district police stations, requesting that the Counter Terrorism Centre be dispatched to his home address and claiming he possessed firearms and ammunition, the Hungarian news agency wrote.

He later sent further threatening messages to police in Vác and Győr, in which he referred to plans to bomb Vienna’s main railway station. Police previously disclosed that the man wrote in his messages: “I will set the city ablaze tonight”, “I will blow up the whole city – Allahu Akbar”, and “I am planning a terrorist attack in the name of Hamas”.

He suffers from autism, ADHD

In his final statement before the court, the defendant said he suffers from autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), describing the emails as harmless messages, while also expressing remorse for his actions.

In its first-instance ruling, the court found the man guilty on three counts of making threats to commit acts of terrorism. It ordered that he be placed under probation supervision for the duration of the suspended sentence and pay legal costs of 1.3 million forints.

The court established the facts in line with the indictment, concluding in particular that the threats were capable of causing serious fear.

No grounds to exclude criminal liability

A psychiatric expert confirmed that the defendant suffers from autism and was in a pathological mental state at the time of the offences, though no grounds were found to exclude criminal liability.

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Mitigating factors included his clean criminal record, his admission of guilt, the length of time spent under coercive measures, and his multiple mental health conditions. As an aggravating factor, the court noted that he had sent several threatening messages.

The defendant accepted the verdict, which has not yet become final, as both the defence and the prosecution requested three days to consider whether to appeal.

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