Defamation of character

Oe24 network must pay Strache 150,000 euros

Heinz-Christian Strache wins against Oe24.

(Bild: AFP/ALEX HALADA)

Because the medium violated his highly personal sphere of life in its reporting on Heinz-Christian Strache's divorce and fulfilled the offense of defamation, it must now pay. And it has to pay a tidy sum - not legally binding.

The verdict in courtroom 41 of the Vienna Provincial Court is never-ending. The judge reads out article after article, posting after posting. After all, there are 158 articles for which the Oe24 network has now been convicted in the Strache divorce case. 

Highly personal sphere of life violated 
The media proceedings, in which the former Vice-Chancellor sued the medium because it had violated his highly personal sphere of life in its divorce reporting on him and Philippa Strache and had committed defamation of character, dragged on for almost a year and a half. Many witnesses and hearings later, Mr. Rat came to the conclusion that the Oe24 network is guilty and must pay Heinz-Christian Strache around 140,000 euros.

Strache's lawyer sees conviction as a success
The judge explained: "Formulations were used that in any case affect the highly personal living space of the applicant." They would also have been suitable for putting the ex-FPÖ leader in a bad light. Whether parts of the media coverage of the divorce were true or not was irrelevant to the conviction - it went too far in any case.

Heinz-Christian Strache with his lawyer Maximilian Donner-Reichstädter

(Bild: Bartel Gerhard/Gerhard Bartel)

"Of course we see this as a success," said Strache's lawyer Maximilian Donner-Reichstädter to "Krone" after the trial. Even if the damages - the most expensive publication cost 3000 euros, the cheapest tweet only 115 euros - are rather low. The Media Act provides for up to 100,000 euros per publication if the highly personal sphere of life is violated.

"It's not about the money for me"
Heinz-Christian Strache himself says: "It's not about the money for me." Rather, he insists on the judgment publications in the various media of the Oe24 network. But the network does not want to give in so easily. Lawyer Peter Zöchbauer immediately files a full appeal; the other side follows suit. So the media proceedings at the Vienna Higher Regional Court will go into the next round.

Lawyer Maximilian Donner-Reichstädter hints at what else happened behind the scenes of Strache vs. Oe24 in his closing statement: The defendant is likely to have reported the former politician to the Vienna public prosecutor's office for making false statements in the media trial. They checked for initial suspicion, but found none - the case was dropped. However, a preliminary investigation would have meant that the media trial would have had to be interrupted, perhaps even lasting another year ...