Austria: ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz convicted of false testimony
In Austria, former conservative chancellor Sebastian Kurz was found guilty of perjury this Friday, February 23, at the end of a trial where he was accused of having lied before a parliamentary committee, when he was still in office.
He received an eight-month suspended prison sentence at first instance, but announced he would appeal.
Former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz speaks to the media after his trial in Vienna, February 23, 2024. © LEONHARD FOEGER / Reuters
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“
Sebastian Kurz
is guilty
,” declared the judge in Vienna this Friday.
During the 12 days of the hearing, Sebastian Kurz continued to proclaim his innocence.
But at the age of 37, the young prodigy of Austrian politics was indeed sentenced to eight months in prison for perjury, following the prosecution's request.
In reaction, the Austrian announced that he would appeal this judgment in a post on X.
I have been acquitted in two out of three counts and will appeal the judgment with respect to the only count that I have been wrongfully found guilty of.
The trial was about whether I lied in parliament four years ago and based on a complaint filed by my political opponents.
1/2
— Sebastian Kurz (@sebastiankurz) February 23, 2024
He is accused
of having lied before a parliamentary committee
by minimizing his role in the appointment of Thomas Schmid, one of his close friends at the head of a powerful public holding company, reports our correspondent in Vienna,
Isaure Hiace
.
“
I was informed, but it was not me who decided,
” he said during the trial, while the prosecution on the contrary portrayed him as controlling everything in his political party, relying on in particular on numerous SMS messages scrutinized.
The ex-chancellor has always denied having knowingly misled the deputies who questioned him.
He even, during this trial, claimed to have felt “
disarmed
” and “
very bad
” at being accused, and that they had wanted to “
destroy
” him.
An improbable return to politics
Chancellor from 2017 to 2021, and at 31 years old the youngest elected leader on the planet, Sebastian Kurz has left his mark on Austrian politics in recent years, notably choosing to ally himself with the far-right to govern.
But
this judgment prevents
, at least in the short term, a return to politics of the young conservative, now converted to the private sector.
Especially since Sebastian Kurz is also suspected
of having misappropriated public funds
to order rigged opinion surveys and laudatory articles published in Austrian tabloids.
An investigation which is still ongoing.
In Austria, interfering in an appointment process is not a crime in itself, but concealing the truth while being questioned under oath is punishable by three years in prison.
The witnesses called throughout the trial – around ten in total, including former ministers – mostly defended the ex-chancellor's version of the facts.
With the exception, however, of the main protagonist: Thomas Schmid, the ex-friend who is now cooperating with the justice system in the hope of a reduced sentence.
(
And with
AFP)
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