Five attitudes

No charges in the Anna case: “A slap in the face!”

The gang is said to have been up to mischief on Antonsplatz in Vienna-Favoriten. That's also where the twelve-year-old met them.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com, zVg)

More than a dozen young people have been charged by the Vienna public prosecutor's office in the gruesome case surrounding the months-long abuse of a twelve-year-old schoolgirl. Two Syrians have already been legally acquitted. The preliminary proceedings against five other boys have now been discontinued ...

"Discontinued because the offense on which the investigation is based is not punishable by law," reads the notification from the Vienna public prosecutor's office. Five boys who were considered suspects in the Anna(name changed) case do not have to stand trial - two of them were not even of criminal age at the time of the crime. The investigation into alleged abuse was dropped. 

Abused by a gang for months
For months, the then twelve-year-old was allegedly passed around like a trophy in a multicultural gang consisting of 17 young people, blackmailed with sex videos and raped - according to the prosecution's suspicions.

Next trial at the end of March
And two young Syrians have already been put on trial. The accusation: they had raped the schoolgirl in the vicinity of Antonsplatz in Vienna-Favoriten. Both cases resulted in a legally binding acquittal - which was met with criticism. On March 24, the 18-year-old Afghan who was allegedly in a relationship with Anna in the summer of 2023 will now stand trial. The charges against him are "sexual abuse of minors", attempted "coercion" and "child abuse representations".

Around ten young people are still accused in the gruesome case. Anna's mother now expresses her fear to the "Krone" that the proceedings against the other boys will also be dropped. "That's a slap in the face, of course", she comments on the news from the Vienna public prosecutor's office.