Chance find

Ex-politician from Graz sentenced for child pornography

Around 24,000 pornographic images were found, around 470 of which allegedly contained depictions of minors.

(Bild: vulkanov - stock.adobe.com)

A former FPÖ local councillor from Graz stood trial on Friday for possession of pornographic images of minors. The material had been found by chance during a house search in the course of the FPÖ financial affair. The 43-year-old was sentenced to six months conditional imprisonment and a fine - not legally binding.  

The investigations into the FPÖ Graz financial affair have also brought other abysses to light: During a house search, the investigators came across child pornographic material. Or as it is called in legal jargon: "realistic images of sexual acts on and by minors".

The former blue local councillor in question resigned this spring. On Friday, he had to answer for the relevant sex images found on his laptop and a USB stick at the Graz Regional Criminal Court.

"No second Teichtmeister trial"
Specifically, the public prosecutor's office in Klagenfurt accused him of possessing 24,163 image files, of which at least 474 files are said to contain sexual images of minors - i.e. under 18-year-olds.

The ex-politician's defense lawyer emphasized that this was "not a second Teichtmeister trial". His client had downloaded all the photos from freely accessible sites. "Based on the photographs, it is not possible to determine the immaturity of the persons with a probability bordering on 100 percent, the boundaries are blurred."

"Among the many thousands of images, some have probably slipped in."

Der Angeklagte will nicht wissentlich Bilder von Unter-14-Jährigen heruntergeladen haben.

"With so many thousands of pictures, some have probably slipped in between," the defendant justified the pictures in question. Judge Julia Riffel reproached him for specifically searching with the terms "teen" or "boys". "Teen is how old for you?" she asked the accused. "18, 19 years old," he replied. 

Debate about actual age 
The judge repeatedly told the 43-year-old that it was clear to any layperson that the pictures were clearly of under-18-year-olds. "It wasn't so clear to me at the time," said the defendant, who emphasized that he did not find the sexual depiction of minors attractive. 

After viewing a number of images, the former local councillor was found guilty of obtaining and possessing pornographic images of minors and underage minors. In the judge's opinion, only five of the images clearly depicted minors, the rest were of minors.

The defendant was sentenced to a fine of 14,400 euros and a conditional prison sentence of six months suspended for three years. He asked for time to reflect, the public prosecutor made no statement. The verdict is not final.