by EuroNews
It’s published
The Vienna High District Court overturned the eight-month suspended prison sentence for former Austrian Prime Minister Sebastian Kurtz on Monday for making false statements in a parliamentary investigation.
Austrian news agency reported that a judge in Vienna’s superior court had abandoned Kurtz’s conviction after a brief appeal hearing.
“What came out is what I’ve always said: I didn’t say anything false in the Congressional investigation,” Cultz told an out-of-court reporter in a simple statement after Monday’s decision.
“I’ve been in the (legal) lawsuits behind me for a long time now. Honestly, I want to set my position in detail, but please understand that I will be the first to go home to my family and my two children,” Kurz added.
The incident centered on Cultz’s testimony in an investigation focused on the alliance he led when his conservative Austrian People’s Party formed a coalition with the far-right Liberal Party from 2017 until the collapse of the conservative Austrian People’s Party in 2019.
Prosecutors accused the 38-year-old of giving false evidence in June 2020 regarding his role in the establishment of Obagus, which managed the state’s role in some businesses and appointed his former best friend Thomas Schmid to its leadership.
Kurz was found guilty of making false statements about the company’s board of supervision, not about Schmid.
The judge upheld the conviction of Kurz’s former chief of staff, Bernhard Bonelli, on Monday, by making a false statement about Kurz’s parliamentary investigation into his own involvement and the selection of members of the OEBAG Supervisory Board.
He was sentenced to six months’ suspension last year. Kurz said he deeply regrets Bonelli’s decision.
The former Takayama country leader appealed the ruling after four months of lawsuit.
Kurz, once a rising star among conservatives in Europe, resigned in 2021. His People’s Party, which finished second in the September election, is leading the government under current Prime Minister Christan Tocker.
Additional sources •AP
