Judge threatened

Court without a face: hide-and-seek in Eisenstadt

Who is who in Eisenstadt? When photography was still allowed in the courtroom.

(Bild: HS)

The seven female judges at the regional court are increasingly being followed and threatened online. That's why they no longer want to be seen in photos. And their names are also to be omitted from reports.  

A question for our readers: Does it also irritate you when you are presented with pictures from courtrooms in which all the people have been made unrecognizable? Yes? Rightly so. Photos could hardly be more pointless, they only serve the purpose of documenting that the reporter was there anyway. Being a judge is worthy of honor, isn't it?

Why judges are pixelated
But there is also a purpose behind the so-called "pixelation" of faces. Suspected perpetrators must not be led through the newspaper landscape by the nose ring because privacy must be protected. That's a good thing. But judges? Public prosecutors? Why do they want to be hidden at all costs? They are practicing honest professions!

Threats after trials
"Insults on social media don't stop at the judiciary either," says Bernhard Kolonovits, President of the Eisenstadt Regional Court since January 1st. "In the past week alone, there have been three such incidents involving our judges." There are separate homepages on which the private details of the presiding judges are published. "It is not uncommon for unbelievable threats to be made."

Hate comments and insults on the internet are on the rise. They mostly come from people who don't want to accept judgments. Protecting the college has absolute priority.

Bernhard Kolonovits, Präsident am Landes-gericht Eisenstadt

Bild: Harald Schume

Names out of the media
For these reasons, the seven female judges at the Eisenstadt Regional Court, probably the only all-female court in the world, have decided to keep their names out of the public eye. "We don't want our faces to be shown. And we ask the media to accept that our names will no longer be mentioned in reports," says Magistra Birgit Falb, who will be referred to as such for the last time at this point. A great word of honor!

According to President Kolonovits, the situation is also being exacerbated more and more by people who do not even shy away from making verbal threats to authorities and announcing retaliation because they do not agree with certain decisions. "The trend is definitely on the rise. However, we can intervene relatively quickly here - in contrast to the internet, where people hide in the anonymous gray area."