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Austria Solidarity: An International Group of Organisations And Individuals Concerned About Human Rights in Austria
On May 21 2008 masked and armed officers of the Austrian elite squad WEGA broke into homes and offices of NGO workers and organisations at the crack of dawn. Since that day, 10 people arrested in the raids have been detained in remand custody without being charged for specific wrongdoings. |  |
UPDATE: 02 September, 2008
The news we've been waiting to hear for the last 3 months - Christof, Elmar, Felix, Jan, Jürgen, Kevin, Leo, Martin and Sabine - the remaining 9 Austrian activists have finally been set free!
On the morning of 2nd September senior prosecution under instructions from the Minister for Justice finally ordered the local prosecution to release the remaining 9 activists at once and without delay!
A press release the Senior Prosecution's office stated that 'the length of the remand custody is now disproportionate in relation to the offences being investigated'.
Essential to this decision finally being made was certainly the relentless national and international protest, which ensured that the issue could not simply be sweep under the carpet. But what really brought the tipping point about was the incisive involvement of the Austrian Green Party.
In the weeks preceding the release, the Greens announced that one of the imprisoned activists, Dr Martin Balluch was going to run as an independent candidate supported by their party in the upcoming elections. This caused a media sensation: a remand prisoner on the ballot paper!
At this point many national and local Austrian newspapers reported daily on the wrongful incarceration of the 9, highlighting the fact that massive amounts of public money had been poured into unjustified and inconclusive surveillance work. Surveillance which seriously violated the activists’ basic civil rights and led to their being locked up for over 3 months without concrete charge.
Just days before the release the Greens exposed the Ministry of the Interior and heads of police as having instigated this massive operation more or less on demand from influential business persons with a financial interest in preventing campaigns against fur from being carried out.
All this in the frenzied run up to the election put the authorities under ever increasing pressure to act. And on the morning of 2nd September they finally did! The Ministry of Justice could simply not afford to let this situation continue: If the prosecution had had all this time and resources to investigate then they must now either bring charges or release the people immediately. Having nothing to present, the prosecution had no other option other than to release all the activists.
But, it’s not over! The frighteningly ridiculous accusation of the anti-Mafia law (paragraph 278) has not been dropped. Investigations are continuing and the police appear even more desperate to justify their embarrassingly over-the-top actions. Just recently a further house search was carried out at one of the released activists’ homes.
The danger for activists and NGOs will not be over until a reworking of the 278 law makes its abuse by the authorities against NGOs impossible. For more detailed updates please go to http://www.vgt.at/index_en.php
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