Acquittal for Sebastian Kurz: OLG Vienna Overturns Verdict

The suspended six-month prison sentence against his former chief of staff Bernhard Bonelli, also for false testimony, was confirmed. Kurz had initially been sentenced to eight months of suspended imprisonment. The verdict is final. The ÖVP leadership expressed their delight.

Sebastian Kurz Acquitted

The trial focused on Kurz allegedly downplaying his role in the supervisory board appointment of the state holding company ÖBAG. The prosecution accused him of wanting to create the impression that he had essentially nothing to do with the process. "The objective elements of the false testimony were not fulfilled," the judge explained the verdict.

A false testimony is committed by someone who intentionally misrepresents facts. Kurz affirmed that he was involved in the appointment of the supervisory board. Kurz thus correctly answered the yes-no question of whether he was involved in the appointment. The questioner, Stephanie Krisper, was not satisfied with the answer, but the questioning time was over. Kurz did not give the impression that his question had been conclusively answered, the court stated after reviewing the video recordings from the investigative committee.

Upon leaving the courtroom, Kurz directly addressed the numerous media representatives present: "You have witnessed everything in full over the past years. You have reported for years. I have been confronted with accusations for years." Now, "it has all collapsed." He deeply regretted the verdict for his former chief of staff Bonelli. Kurz, who had become a father for the second time just a few days ago, now wanted to go home to his family and announced that he would make a detailed statement in the coming days.

Judge Not Biased

The role of the first-instance judge Michael Radasztics played no part in the overturning of the initial verdict. The defense argued that he had given the appearance of bias because he had passed information to Peter Pilz and was therefore sentenced to a disciplinary penalty. These were professional relationships and had no impact on the appearance of bias. There had been no contact or personal relationships between Pilz and Radasztics for four years.

Bonelli's Verdict Confirmed

The situation was different with Bonelli, according to the judge, who emphasized that there was no connection to Kurz's statements before the investigative committee in this matter. The question that needed to be examined was the one posed to Bonelli, namely, whether Kurz wanted Siegfried Wolf to become the chairman of the supervisory board at ÖBAG. Bonelli responded: "I don't know."

"From chats and also from the main hearing, it emerged that Siegfried Wolf was Kurz's favorite," the judge explained. Bonelli also admitted during the main hearing that he knew this. "The fact that he speaks of a candidate and not a chairman has no impact on the truthfulness." It was only about drawing conclusions on whether Bonelli was aware at the time of his statement that his statement was untrue. "Whether he deliberately gave false testimony, I don't know," said the chairman.

The topic of the supervisory board appointment is not something that is easily forgotten, "that is not credible" - it was a central and controversial issue. "We, like the first judge, assume that this knowledge, that Wolf was favored by Kurz, was consistently present (with Bonelli, note)."

Regarding the state of emergency in testimony presented by Bonelli, the judge said the correct answer would have been that Bonelli knew that Kurz wanted Wolf as chairman of the supervisory board - that would have been a harmless matter.

Regarding the question of mitigating the sentence, it was stated that it would require a longer period of five years - but Bonelli's statement before the investigative committee was made on January 27, 2021. A conversion into a fine was also not possible, as it was not requested by the defendant. The six-month suspended sentence from the first judgment for Bonelli is thus final.

The ÖVP then expressed their satisfaction. Party leader and Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker stated after the verdict: "It has been shown after a very long process that the allegations were unfounded. I am happy for Sebastian Kurz." ÖVP General Secretary Nico Marchetti also expressed satisfaction: "We have always believed in Sebastian Kurz's innocence. It is good that the court ultimately came to the conviction that Sebastian Kurz did nothing wrong."

However, further investigations against Kurz are still ongoing in the ÖVP advertisement affair - since 2021. After these allegations became known (keyword: Beinschab-Tool), Kurz resigned as chancellor in October 2021 and moved to the National Council as club chairman, and in December of the same year, he completely withdrew from politics. The core allegation here is that surveys were paid for with taxpayers' money from ÖVP-led ministries and placed in media from which Kurz and the ÖVP allegedly benefited.

The namesake of the "Beinschab-Austria-Tool" is the founder of the market research institute "Research Affairs," which conducted surveys for the "Austria" media group from the end of 2016 to September 2021. Like her former boss Karmasin, Beinschab is accused of embezzlement and bribery. The WKStA has also granted Beinschab crown witness status in the advertisement affair. Kurz denies the allegations.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.