COPENHAGEN, Denmark – A Finnish prosecutor has demanded that a Moroccan asylum-seeker is sentenced to life for two terror-related murders and an attempt to murder eight others during a stabbing attack in southwestern Finland last year.
Abderrahman Bouanane, an alleged sympathizer of the Islamic State group, was shot in the thigh by police after the Aug. 18 stabbing rampage in Turku. He has pleaded guilty in Finland's first terror trial, but denies he intended to commit a terrorist act as prosecutors allege.
Prosecutor Hannu Koistinen said Tuesday that the victims "were tools so the defendant could meet IS's target of spreading fear in Europe."
His defense lawyer admits Bouanane, who listened quietly in the makeshift courtroom inside a prison, had been radicalized but didn't plan the attack.
A verdict is expected June 15.
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