Three men trade blame in Vienna murder trial

The trial of three men over a fatal shooting at a Vienna restaurant began on Friday, with the defendants accusing one another, ORF reported. One man was killed and two others were injured in the shooting in the Ottakring area of Vienna on November 6, 2025.

The defendants face charges including murder, attempted murder and participation in the alleged offences. The shooting followed a dispute over debts linked to a loan arrangement, according to the indictment.

The indictment says the 34-year-old main defendant and a 36-year-old man had agreed to pay a loan broker a 50 percent commission on a loan of about 50,000 euros. After learning that the broker had ordered and used credit cards in their names, the two men withdrew the full loan amount and kept it, prosecutors said. A meeting was then arranged at the restaurant to resolve the dispute.

Prosecutors allege that the main defendant brought an illegally acquired Beretta to the meeting. The 39-year-old third defendant also carried a Glock “for safety”, the prosecutor said in her opening statement. The main defendant denies taking the Beretta. The loan broker arrived with his father and another companion, who the main defendant said were also armed.

As tensions rose, a restaurant guest accompanied the three defendants outside. According to the indictment, the first shot hit a door frame before ricocheting and lightly injuring the guest. The second shot struck the loan broker’s 55-year-old Serbian father in the upper abdomen and pelvis. He survived after emergency surgery. The third shot hit the broker’s 33-year-old Chechen companion, who suffered a fatal injury to the main artery and collapsed outside the restaurant.

The two men who accompanied the main defendant denied making a psychological contribution to the alleged crime by encouraging him or strengthening his resolve. The main defendant instead accused the third defendant of bringing both weapons, firing the fatal shot and handing him the Beretta afterwards.

According to the main defendant’s lawyer, Claudia Fessler, the third defendant told him that he had saved his life and that he should take responsibility or something would happen to his family. The main defendant also accused him of extortion and alleged that he had been taking money from him for years.

The main defendant said he initially accepted full responsibility after his arrest to protect his family. He also claimed he had not been involved in the loan and had only helped the second defendant.

After the shooting, the 34-year-old, who was born in Austria, fled to Turkey. Six months later, he applied for Turkish citizenship, but Turkish authorities rejected the application and deported him to Austria, where he was arrested.

At trial, he described the shooting as self-defence and gave a different account of events. He denied that a shot had hit the door frame, saying the third defendant had shot the Chechen man through a window and then put the weapon in his hand. He said he shot the loan broker’s father after an angry crowd attacked the three men and the father pulled out a pistol.

The main defendant also said he had been shot in the ankle at the restaurant. However, a medical expert examined the healed injury before the trial and concluded, according to the prosecutor, that it was not a gunshot wound. Only the main defendant’s fingerprints were found on the weapon. He argued that the third defendant had used a cloth to remove his own traces.

The two men who accompanied the main defendant surrendered to police the day after the shooting. The second defendant had been “afraid for his own life” at the restaurant and was shocked by what happened, said his lawyer Astrid Wagner, who is representing him together with Michael Dohr.

A verdict is expected in mid-September.