The jihadist Sayfullo Saipov ran over and murdered eight people in 2017, including the group of friends who traveled from Rosario.
Sayfullo Saipov, the man originally from Uzbekistan guilty of murdering the group of Rosario who rode a bicycle in New York and other passers-by in 2017, He was sentenced this Monday to life imprisonment because the jury he did not find unanimity to apply the death penalty.
Saipov, 35, had been found guilty of the murders in January and the jury had heard emotional testimony from relatives of victims and survivors in the United States District Court in Manhattan.
The case shocked the world and particularly Argentina, since Saipov charged into a group of Rosarios who traveled to the United States to celebrate their 30th anniversary of high school graduation and killed five of them while bicycling through lower Manhattan. Diego Angelini, Ariel Erlij, Hernán Ferruchi, Alejandro Pagnucco and Hernán Mendoza died. The group was made up of a total of ten friends.
In addition, the Uzbek killed two Americans and a Belgian tourist.
After hitting people with a rented moving truck at more than 100 km per hour, Saipov continued his raid and collided with a school bus, causing serious injuries to a child and a woman.
Saipov was arrested after being shot by a New York police officer.
For the facts, he faced twenty-eight charges: crimes, assassination attempts, assault and material support of a foreign organization, all with the purpose –according to the statement of the prosecution that the defense rejects– of joining ISIS, a jihadist group accused of its insurgent actions and terrorism.
Abundant material was kidnapped from the Uzbek that would prove that since 2014 he began to follow ISIS and, through an encrypted messaging application, to receive material from that organization, many linked to attacks. Two years later he began planning the attack.
The 12-member jury said Monday afternoon that it could not reach a unanimous decision, meaning that a decision on the death penalty was not possible because a unanimous decision on at least one charge was required eligible for the death penalty. That made a life sentence the default alternative.
Jurors weighed in on the federal government’s case in favor of Saipov’s death, which included prosecutors saying he expected to be part of the extremist group ISIS, planned the attack and showed no remorse after the October 31, 2017 killings. .
Defense attorneys said a life sentence in federal prison for Saipov was appropriate and sufficient to protect society.
“No need to kill [a Saipov]. Not for our safety or anyone else’s and not to do justice,” his lawyer David Patton said in closing remarks last week. “We ask them to decide that meeting death with more death is not the answer.”
The case marked the first federal conviction under the Biden administration that could have resulted in an execution. Authorities said it was the worst terrorist act in New York City since September 11, 2001.
Under the Biden administration, the Justice Department withdrew more than two dozen death penalty applications under a policy the president adopted against the death penalty. In seven pending cases, including Saipov’s, the government honored death penalty notices that were filed before Biden took office.
Assistant US Attorney Amanda Houle in her closing statement detailed the “excruciating pain” suffered by the families who were victims of the attack.
“There can be no justice in this case without a close look at the anguish the defendant chose for these families,” Houle said.
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