German court holds first ISIL criminal proceedings

A court in Germany has held the country’s first criminal proceedings involving an alleged member of the ISIL terrorist group operating in Syria and Iraq.

Federal prosecutors on Friday asked for a sentence of four years and three months for Kreshnik Berisha, a 20-year-old born near the city of Frankfurt to a family from Kosovo, on charges of joining the Takfiri group in Syria.

Dieter Killmer, a federal prosecutor, told the Frankfurt regional court he is not convinced that Berisha had shown “genuine remorse” based on his statements.

“He’s physically back from Syria, (but) with his ideals, he hasn’t yet arrived back in Germany,” he said.

Defense lawyer Mutlu Gunal, however, told the court that Berisha has “shown remorse by having returned.”

According to court documents, Berisha joined the ISIL in Syria after travelling to Turkey in July 2013.

He was arrested at Frankfurt airport in December 2013 when he was returning home for unknown reasons.

The trial opened in September this year, and a verdict is due on December 5.

Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the German domestic intelligence service, said that about 550 German nationals have joined the ISIL in Syria and Iraq.

He added that 180 of them have returned to Germany and some 60 have been killed.