An Austrian court docket on Friday discovered former chancellor Sebastian Kurz responsible of giving false testimony to a parliamentary inquiry, handing him an eight-month suspended jail sentence.
The decision got here on the finish of a months-long trial for the previous politician as soon as hailed the “wunderkind” of Europe’s conservatives.
Kurz, 37, stated he would attraction the decision, calling it “shocking” and “not honest”.
“I’m very optimistic” for the attraction, he informed reporters outdoors the court docket.
Kurz was sentenced for having misled a parliamentary inquiry probing wide-ranging corruption scandals that introduced down his first coalition authorities with the far-right in 2019.
The charismatic hardliner, who left politics in 2021, nonetheless faces an one other corruption investigation.
Prosecutors on this case had insisted there was “little question” Kurz — who headed the ruling conservative Individuals’s Occasion (OeVP) till 2021 — intentionally gave improper testimony for “political causes”.
In his closing assertion earlier than the decision, Kurz stated he had felt “defenceless” and “horrible” within the face of the prosecutors’ accusations.
He had been accused of downplaying his affect in appointing key officers, together with the pinnacle of the state-owned holding firm OeBAG.
The decide discovered him responsible of constructing false statements about his involvement within the appointment of the OeBAG board.
However he dominated Kurz was not responsible over his statements pertaining to its head, Thomas Schmid.
– Rival witnesses –
All through the trial, which took 12 days unfold out since October, Kurz portrayed himself because the sufferer of a selective prosecution and an opposition out to “destroy him”.
Kurz stated that whereas he had been knowledgeable concerning the appointment of key officers, he had not selected them.
He dismissed prosecutors’ recommendations that he had sought to manage key appointments.
Schmid had testified that Kurz in truth held the reins and will veto any appointment of personnel in key firms.
Among the many different witnesses who testified had been two former finance ministers, who backed Kurz, in addition to two Russian businessmen who spoke through video convention from the Austrian embassy in Moscow.
The Russians gave testimony as defence witnesses that discredited Schmid — although one in all them raised eyebrows when he stated Kurz’s lawyer had helped draft his assertion.
– Additional investigations –
Prosecutors are nonetheless investigating Kurz on suspicion of getting embezzled public cash to fund polls skewed to spice up his picture, and to pay for beneficial protection.
However they’ve to date did not acquire any convictions in that case.
They started investigating after a video emerged in 2019 displaying Kurz’s then-vice chancellor — from the far-right Freedom Occasion (FPOe) — providing public contracts to a purported Russian investor for marketing campaign assist.
The FPOe slumped in recognition after the scandal, however underneath new management it has bounced again to high the polls.
Presently, it’s polling at about 30 % forward of elections anticipated in September.
Kurz is now concerned with quite a few personal worldwide enterprises.
In 2022, he launched a cybersecurity firm with the previous head of Israel’s NSO Group, which makes the controversial Pegasus adware.
It’s the first time in additional than 30 years {that a} former chancellor has stood trial.
Within the final case, Fred Sinowatz of the Social Democrats was discovered responsible of giving false testimony, and acquired a high quality.
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