Pork-sayer

Parliament lifts immunity of FPÖ MP

Markus Leinfellner, FPÖ

(Bild: FPÖ Steiermark)

In the last regular parliamentary session before the National Council elections, a request for extradition from the Graz public prosecutor's office against FPÖ MP Markus Leinfellner will also be put to the vote on Tuesday. His immunity will probably be lifted.

Leinfellner, who until recently was an FPÖ Federal Councillor and only moved to the National Council in July, was charged with incitement to hatred and disparagement of religious teachings. The immunity committee is now dealing with a request from the public prosecutor's office in Graz to allow the FPÖ MP to be prosecuted by the authorities.

Pork slogan at school
The background to the public prosecutor's investigation was a statement made by Leinfellner - who was still a member of the Federal Council at the time - in May of this year during a discussion event at the BORG Dreierschützengasse in Graz. At the time, he said that "people who eat pork in Austria are less likely to blow themselves up" (see tweet below).

Young SPÖ Graz responded to incident
The Young Generation of the SPÖ Graz then reported him. As a result, the Graz public prosecutor's office launched an investigation against the FPÖ politician on suspicion of incitement to hatred and disparagement of religious teachings.

The Islamic Religious Community of Styria criticized the statement at the time as "offensive" and "dangerous". They would reveal a deep-rooted hatred and prejudice against Muslims, it said. The statement "also implies a devaluation of other religious minorities such as Jews, whose religious principles also prohibit the consumption of pork."

Immunity will probably be lifted
According to parliamentary sources, the immunity committee will lift Leinfellner's parliamentary immunity with the votes of the ÖVP, SPÖ, Greens and NEOS, as the incriminated statement has nothing to do with his National Council mandate, according to the statement.