After Protest at ORF Summer Talk: Court Partially Lifts Penalties

Masked individuals unfurled a banner with the Russian flag and the inscription "Thank you Herbert, from Putin, with love, your Vladimir" during the interview with FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl and loudly played the Russian anthem.

The three activists operated from a boat

The summer talk took place on a terrace in Traunkirchen on the shore of Lake Traunsee. The three activists operated from a boat. The banner, the masks - depicting Putin and the chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev - as well as the Russian national anthem were only noticeable on site, but not in the television broadcast. The district administration of Gmunden imposed administrative fines of 100 euros each on the activists for disturbing public order and 60 euros each for violating the anti-face covering law.

An appeal was lodged with the Regional Administrative Court. While it considered the fines for face covering justified, those for disturbing public order were overturned. They were deemed disproportionate given the minor and short-term disruption and the broad leeway that jurisprudence grants individuals in the exercise of assembly, opinion, and artistic freedom in a political context, according to the reasoning.

(APA/Red)

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