Witnesses implicate main defendant in Vienna shooting trial

Witnesses implicated the main defendant on the second day of a trial over a shooting at a venue in Vienna’s Ottakring district that left one man dead, ORF reported. The defendant, like the two other defendants, denies the allegations.

On the first day of the trial, the main defendant claimed that the third defendant had fired the fatal shot and that he had fired the other shot in self-defence. The three men, aged 34, 36 and 39, are facing charges including murder, attempted murder and complicity in a three-day trial. All pleaded not guilty at the opening hearing last week. The court is due to deliver its verdict on September 14. A conviction in line with the indictment could result in life imprisonment.

The shooting followed a dispute over money owed. According to the indictment, the 34-year-old main defendant and the 36-year-old second defendant had entered into a loan arrangement with a credit broker. The broker was due to receive a 50 percent commission on a loan of about 50,000 euros.

The main defendant allegedly learned that the broker had ordered credit cards in their names and used them, including to buy a Rolex. The 34-year-old and the 36-year-old then withdrew the entire loan amount and kept it, according to the prosecution. The resulting dispute was to be settled at a meeting at the venue on November 6, 2025.

The money, excluding the Serbian broker’s expenses, was supposed to be handed over at the meeting. A friend of the broker testified on Monday that the broker had told him beforehand: “They shouldn’t make trouble, otherwise I’ll bring a few Chechens to the meeting.” The main defendant reportedly learned of the comment and brought the third defendant with him. The stateless man was born in Grozny.

According to prosecutors, the main defendant brought a Beretta that he had previously acquired illegally. The third defendant was also armed, carrying a Glock.

A verbal confrontation soon began at the venue. The broker had arrived with his father and three other companions. Referring to the number of Chechens present, the main defendant allegedly asked whether it was a “wedding”, which the broker considered disrespectful.

As the situation threatened to escalate, a companion of the broker led the main defendant into a corridor towards an emergency exit. “I wanted him to calm down,” the 38-year-old Chechen testified. The 34-year-old suddenly allegedly drew a weapon, loaded it and aimed at him. “Then he immediately fired,” the witness said.

The bullet struck a door frame, and fragments slightly injured the man in the chest through his down jacket. When the judge asked whether he was certain that the main defendant had fired, he replied: “I know it exactly, and he knows it himself too.”

The first shot triggered panic inside the venue. The broker’s father grabbed his son by the shoulder as the younger man tried to move towards the source of the shot. “Are you crazy? Where are you going? There are shots there,” the now 56-year-old man told him.

He lost sight of his son in the turmoil. He then saw the main defendant approach, draw a weapon and fire. “In the stomach. At first I didn’t notice the blood,” the father testified. He vehemently denied carrying a weapon, as the main defendant had claimed.

The Serbian broker was shot in the upper abdomen and pelvis. He suffered a through-and-through wound and survived only because of emergency surgery. The third shot struck another companion of the broker, a 33-year-old Chechen. He managed to leave the venue despite an injury to the body’s main artery, then collapsed outside and died.