German prosecutors indict suspected IS returnee
March 31, 2016
Shahid Ilgar Oclu S. was indicted in a Dusseldorf court on Thursday on charges of being a member of two foreign terrorist organizations in Syria.
In the fall of 2013, the 25-year-old is alleged to have gone to Syria where he received weapons training with Jund al-Sham, a largely Chechen jihadist group operating in northern Syria with fighters from Turkey, Germany, the Caucuses and Austria.
According to the Combating Terrorism Center at the US Military Academy at West Point, more than 30 German fighters joined Jund al-Sham in 2013 and 2014, many later joining the Islamic State.
Disillusioned by not receiving enough combat missions with Jund al-Sham, S. left the group to join the "Islamic State" in November 2013, according to prosecutors. A few weeks later he returned to Germany via Turkey.
He was arrested in Cologne on March 7 this year.
cw/rc (AFP, Reuters)