The 34-year-old man, who has been on trial since January 9, has been convicted of 28 counts, eight of them related to “murder with the intent to join ISIS,” charges that “are punishable by death or life imprisonment,” according to the Manhattan federal prosecutor..
On Halloween 2017, Saipov drove a pick-up truck along the Hudson River in southern Manhattan, running into several people and killing eight, including five Argentines and a Belgian woman..
The attack resulted in the deadliest outcome in New York after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and it took place more than a year after the Nice attack in southern France, when a 31-year-old Tunisian rammed his truck into a crowd watching the fireworks display on July 14, leaving 86 dead and more than 400 injured..
Saipov’s trial is the first at the federal level in President Joe Biden’s term.
According to prosecutors in Manhattan, debates to determine the verdict will begin on February 6 before the same 12-person jury, who will have to speak unanimously if they want Saipov to be sentenced to death..
Saipov did not speak about the facts during the trial, during which the relatives of the victims and the injured told their tragic story.
Alexander Lee, one of the prosecutors, said that the accused chose New York because he “knew there would be many people on the streets,” describing Saipov, who arrived in the United States in 2010, as having been preparing since 2016 “to become a soldier in ISIS.” “.
However, David Patton, one of Saipov’s lawyers, stated that the latter did not seek to join ISIS after the crimes he committed, but rather he expected to die. He said the married father of three had been radicalized online.
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