Czech accused of joining IS says he did not want to kill anyone

A Czech facing charges of trying to join a terrorist group, namely Islamic State, testified on Wednesday that he did not want to kill anyone in Syria. Jan Silovský said in court that he wanted to join IS and be sent to fight in Syria so that he could be quickly killed by the Syrian Army. Silovský, from the West Bohemia Plzeň region, said he had not really thought through what he was doing. He said he converted to Islam three or four years ago. He is the first Czech to face charges of trying to join a terrorist group and could a life sentence if found guilty. The 21-year-old was stopped in Turkey with a ticket for an onward flight to Syria in January 2016.

Author: Chris Johnstone