Sikh gets life sentence in Vienna temple attack trial

VIENNA - A radical Sikh man was convicted early Tuesday in Vienna of having murdered an Indian sect leader there last year and was sentenced to life behind bars, the Austrian press agency APA reported.

After hours of deliberations, the jury found four other Indian-born defendants guilty of having aided the crime that took place in a temple of the Dera Sach Khand sect in Austria’s capital.

It handed down punishments of between 17 and 18 years in prison.

The court convicted a sixth man of attempted coercion and gave him a 6-month sentence.

The defendants had denied the charges or claimed not to remember the attack, but some of them made clear during the trial that they disapproved of the liberal Dera Sach Khand group, because its followers venerate religious leaders in addition to Sikh holy scripture.