"Come with knives"

“Come with stabbing weapons” to the Green Minister

On September 3, 2024, the accused called on people to come armed to Wels to an event with Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens).

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

A psychotherapist should perhaps know better what he can trigger with his statements - now a Viennese man is getting the bill for it. The 57-year-old had called on the internet to come to an event organized by the Green Justice Minister in Wels with knives and was therefore brought to court.

"Please come with stabbing weapons, blades only up to 10 cm!" - This "half-joking" comment under an online invitation on Facebook to a Green Party election campaign event in Wels brought a Viennese psychotherapist before the judge. The public prosecutor's office couldn't laugh at the comment and deemed it an "incitement to commit a punishable offense" - which is punishable by up to two years in prison.

How the defendant argues
On Tuesday, the 57-year-old will therefore have to answer to the single judge at the regional court in Linz. "I have understood that this statement can also be misinterpreted. I overstepped the mark. I don't want to destroy my career and what I have built up," the defendant immediately expressed his remorse.

After the attack in Solling, Germany, which had happened a week earlier, he had simply found the discussion about the length of knife blades wrong. It was only afterwards that he realized what he had done with his post.

The trial was over after half an hour and ended with a diversion and an associated fine of 8,000 euros, which he has to pay within two weeks. The Viennese has no criminal record.

Assault implied
Incidentally, under Austrian law it is legal to have a knife in your pocket - unless you are an asylum seeker, a person entitled to asylum, an illegal resident in Austria, subject to an official weapons ban or you are in the weapons ban zone near Hinsenkampplatz in Linz-Urfahr, for example.