Imprisonment imminent

Peter Pilz in court: “Gagged like a civil servant”

Peter Pilz

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Next Friday, the former member of the National Council Peter Pilz will be tried at the Vienna Provincial Court on charges of prohibited publication (Section 301 of the Austrian Criminal Code) and defamation. The former politician and now publisher of the online medium zackzack.at claims, among other things, a legal error and speaks of his "gagging".

"What I did in all three cases was my normal work as a member of parliament. And now the question arises as to whether the completely normal, committed work of a member of parliament is being punished," said Pilz on Tuesday. He remembers everything in detail: "I know exactly what I did. And I also know that I would do the same thing again as an MP." Pilz emphasized that it was "one of the official duties of a member of parliament to name grievances in all severity and to take a public stand in such situations".

The subject of the proceedings is, on the one hand, the conduct of the former Green politician in the so-called informer affair, which involved illegal data retrievals from the police computer allegedly commissioned by the FPÖ, and in connection with investigations into the Natascha Kampusch case. Both times - in October 2000 and in summer 2010 - Pilz presented to the public the findings of the disciplinary commission set up by the Ministry of the Interior, which were in principle subject to confidentiality. Pilz stated that it was a "legal error" that the public prosecutor's office was now inferring a forbidden publication from this, relying on an opinion by constitutional lawyer Heinz Mayer, which he intends to present at the forthcoming court hearing.

How am I supposed to control the administration if I am gagged like a civil servant? That's why the Civil Service Act doesn't apply to me.

Peter Pilz

Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth

"In my 33 years as a member of parliament, I have never seen myself as a civil servant, but as a freely elected member of parliament. I have also never felt bound by official secrecy, the Civil Service Act and all the confidentiality obligations of civil servants," Pilz explained. The task of a member of parliament is to monitor the government and administration: "How am I supposed to monitor the administration if I am gagged like a civil servant? That's why the Civil Service Act does not apply to me."

"Accused without investigation"
 In April 2018, the Ministry of the Interior, led at the time by Herbert Kickl (FPÖ), felt disparaged by a press release in which Pilz described the deportation of an Afghan refugee as an "official murder attempt" and accused the Austrian authorities of handing the man over to "his executioners and his stoners in Afghanistan". A subsequent complaint filed by the Ministry of the Interior for defamation was apparently not processed for years: when Pilz requested access to the files in February 2022, the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office stated that the reportable file had been with the Vienna Senior Public Prosecutor's Office (OStA) since April 2018. Pilz finds the fact that he is now being brought to court more than six years later for his criticism of the authorities' actions in need of clarification: "There has been no investigation into this matter. I am being charged without an investigation."

Pilz was convinced that his words on the deportation were covered by the right to freedom of expression: "It didn't slip out. I said it in a well-considered way. Firstly, because I wanted to express my great indignation at the behavior of the Minister of the Interior and his officials. And secondly, because I wanted to save him (the refugee, editor's note) and mobilize the public." Pilz explained that the person concerned had been in mortal danger in Afghanistan after family members had converted to Christianity.

Will not plead guilty
"My client will not plead guilty. He is firmly convinced that he was simply doing his job as a member of the National Council and that it was part of this job to obtain information and make grievances public," affirmed defense lawyer Johannes Zink. In addition, there is no relevant literature on prohibited publications and the proceedings in question are therefore about legal clarification for all current and future MPs, but also for journalists. The question of "whether a trial should be held in 2024 about alleged crimes committed by a member of parliament in the year 2000" is fundamentally worth discussing, Zink noted.

The trial is scheduled to last one and a half hours. If convicted, the defendant faces a fine of up to 720 daily rates or up to one year in prison.