Vienna Terror: U-Commission with results in four weeks – Wien Aktuell

Ingeborg Zerbes, a professor of criminal law, heads the commission created by the Ministry of the Interior and Justice to deal with possible grievances in the run-up to the attack in central Vienna. Other members include former Attorney General Werner Pleischl and former Director General of Public Safety Herbert Anderl. A first report must be submitted within four weeks.

The commission of inquiry is formally created today through a circular resolution of the Council of Ministers. An analysis of the process of the reactions of the security, judicial and intelligence services of the national and foreign authorities in relation to the attack is desired. The work of the probation service and the association charged with de-radicalizing the later murderer should also be discussed.

Four weeks after the start of its work, the five-person commission will present a first report that includes a chronological description of the events to the Ministers of Justice and the Interior.

The government also includes an international expert in the commission of inquiry into the attack in central Vienna. This is the former Munich Police Chief Hubertus Andrä. The fifth member of the commission is Franz Merli, who, like President Ingeborg Zerbes, teaches at the Vienna Juridicum, but also at the Institute for Constitutional and Administrative Law.

In a broadcast, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) stressed that the commission would carefully examine all processes related to the attack and clarify them in a transparent manner. It is not a political commission, but a purely technical one with recognized experts. Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) added that the terrorist act in Vienna is now being investigated in detail and prosecuted: “This is the only way we can draw the correct conclusions.” She called the committee members excellent.

Zerbes himself emphasized that the Commission is only concerned with “an unconditional investigation, independent of political attitudes and as precise as possible.” The group is composed in such a way that each individual member can guarantee this independence.

After working abroad for a long time, most recently at the University of Bremen, the chairwoman of the commission returned to the Vienna Juridicum last year, where she has since held a professorship at the Institute of Criminal Law. He also completed his habilitation in Vienna.

The opposition doubts the independence of the inquiry commission, which is supposed to investigate possible grievances in the run-up to the Vienna terror attack. The government wants Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) to issue a “clean bill” in an urgent procedure, the SPÖ criticized on Thursday. The FPÖ saw the goat made to the outfielder, the NEOS feared the cover-up of mistakes.

“We are really skeptical about whether a commission is independent if the person whose political responsibility should be investigated is set by himself,” Jörg Leichtfried, deputy head of the SPÖ, said in a broadcast. As was feared, the parliament did not even become involved in a rudimentary way: “Not a single expert, not a single expert could be nominated by the opposition.”

FPÖ security spokesman Hannes Amesbauer criticized the composition of the staff. In particular, the appointment of the former Director General of Public Safety, Herbert Anderl, is a clear sign that Nehammer continues to rely on the cover-up. “Anderl is a man of the former Interior Minister Strasser, who was later convicted of corruption, and was deeply involved in his network of dyeing black. Nehammer turns the goat into a gardener,” criticized Amesbauer.

“This commission of inquiry cannot provide an independent explanation of the terrorist attack in Vienna and the errors and omissions in advance,” said NEOS defense spokesman Douglas Hoyos: “With all due respect to Dr. Zerbes, but a commission established by the government Some of its members have high-ranking former officials with clear party affiliation and they are only supposed to report to the ministries to be investigated, they cannot be independent. “