Eco-terrorists jailed for foiled IBM attack
Three people have been jailed for over three years each for the planned bombing of the IBM nanotechnology centre in Switzerland.
The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona sentenced the trio to terms ranging from just over three years to three years and eight months in the trial which ended on Friday.
A Swiss-Italian and two Italians were found guilty of conspiring to destroy the IBM centre in Rüschlikon, near Zurich, as it neared completion. They were also found guilty of importing explosives into Switzerland, then illegally hiding and transporting them.
They have already served 464 days of their sentences in the lead up to the trial.
They were caught in April 2010 about 3km from the IBM facility in possession of 476 grams of explosives and other components needed to build an improvised explosive device.
Also found in their car were 31 letters claiming responsibility for the planned attack in the name of a group calling itself ELF Switzerland Earth Liberation Front. Known in the United States as eco-terrorists, the group carry out “economic sabotage” to stop the destruction of the environment.
A Swiss intelligence services report said the three people had close links to the eco-terrorist movement, Il Silvestre, which came into existence about ten years ago in Pisa, Italy.
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