Brazilian is Condemned in Spain for Link to Terrorism

04/12/2018 - 11h48

Brazilian Kayke Luan Ribeiro Guimarães, 21, accused of attempting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State radical faction, was condemned on Tuesday (the 10th) by a Spanish court to eight years in prison for forming a terrorist organization.

The sentence adds three more years to the time from his initial detention at the border between Bulgaria and Turkey, in one of the most emblematic cases of radicalization on Spanish territory. Guimarães said that he was on his way to Turkey and was going to spend holidays with friends, a version corroborated by his family, who is appealing the decision.

Spanish judiciary authorities declared that he had plans to continue on to Syria.

In the written sentencing document of 198 pages, obtained by a reporter, the judge declared that the police found copies of extremist manuals, including a guide produced by Al Qaeda, in Guimarães' home. One of the texts described terrorist tactics in detail. They also found a letter to his girlfriend, identified as Yousra El Gaiat, written before leaving for Syria.

"Those accused constitute a terrorist cell with the only motive and objective of complying with postulates issued by the Islamic State", stated the sentencing, "intending to carry out at any moment attacks against institutions like the police, banking entities or Jewish interests."

Guimarães is the only known case of a Brazilian joining or trying to join the Islamic State militia in recent years.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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