According to the ruling by the Berlin Regional Court, the Gesundbrunnen Shopping Centre has been considered as a target, but the militants abandoned their plans for fear of being detected.
The accused, identified only as Magomed Ali, under Germany’s stringent privacy laws, arrived in Germany in 2011 from the Southern Russian region of Dagestan.
He was allegedly radicalised in the Berlin Fussilet Mosque attended by Anis Amri, who killed 11 people in Dec. 2016 when he drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin.
The court added that the accused knew Amri, but there was no established direct contact between the duo.
According to the presiding judge, Detlev Schmidt, Ali was not the driving force behind his group’s terrorist plot, but was in favour of the attack and stored explosives in his flat.
The aim of the planned attack was allegedly to kill as many people as possible and undermine Germany’s domestic security by creating tension.
Investigators raided the Berlin apartment of the accused in Oct. 2016.
The trained shoemaker had been denied asylum in Germany but had a limited right to stay in the country.
He did not testify during his 38-day trial. His lawyer, Kerem Tuerker, said he would recommend that his client appeal the ruling.
Prosecutors had requested a prison sentence of six years and 10 months.
