"Quite simple"

Unable to negotiate: How long does it work?

Ex-bank boss and ex-football manager Martin Pucher

(Bild: Reinhard Judt, krone.at-Grafik)

When the judge calls - but the defendant does not have to follow: Because if a defendant is considered ill, whether long-term or short-term, he does not have to appear for his trial. And that applies to the former head of Commerzialbank Mattersburg, Martin Pucher. The "Krone" asked lawyer Sascha Flatz how long a person can be unfit to stand trial.

On January 23, the time has come: the first trial in the Commerzialbank Mattersburg case will take place in Eisenstadt. The indictment reads like a thriller - malversation, blackmail and lots of missing money. Pucher is accused of having forced 70,000 euros from the bank's coffers into the hands of a former employee who threatened to talk. Now the trial is about to begin - but without the protagonist. 

Pucher has been excused from his trial with a medical report, but has explicitly agreed to a trial in absentia, he says through his lawyer Norbert Wess. But it's not always that simple.

Unfit to stand trial for life?
If a defendant is unable to follow his trial due to a short-term or long-term illness, it must be adjourned until he is fit to stand trial again - and that may never be the case.

The "Krone" asked lawyer Sascha Flatz how long the escape strategy works in court and when you are considered unfit to stand trial.

You can see the background and explanations in the video above!