Judicial problem

Kert: “Influence in clamorous cases”

Criminal law professor Robert Kert in an interview.(Bild: krone.tv)

In an interview on krone.tv, the renowned criminal law professor Robert Kert gives an insight into the months of work of the investigative commission led by Christian Pilnacek. 

Specifically, it was about the possible political influence of Austrian politicians on sensitive legal cases: "In general, we were able to establish that the public prosecutor's offices in Austria can really work independently. There is also no evidence of any specific intervention by Wolfgang Sobotka. However, there are always discussions between well-known politicians and defendants in some prominent cases."

Information through personal conversations

Specifically, these personal conversations focus on the cases of prominent personalities. Kert: "A lot of information is exchanged. For example, what the current situation is in a particular case. In our opinion, however, this does not always comply with the compliance regulations. For example, there are often service meetings for which there are no minutes." Typical gateways to the weakening of independent justice are also excessively long proceedings. Kert: "Prolongation is often deliberately accepted. For example, as in the Meinl proceedings or in the Eurofighter case. And in general, all our interviews and information evaluations show that this is the case: Influence is most likely to be exerted in clamorous cases with prominent participants."

Public Prosecutor General's Office necessary

The fact that there is still a political decision-making leadership around the Minister of Justice in Austria means that our justice system is rated poorly in comparison to other EU countries. Kert: "This political decision-making leadership is problematic in Austria. It leads to a kind of political dependency on the public prosecutor's office." The introduction of a general public prosecutor's office would solve this problem.