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If, according to the commission of inquiry, the terrorist attack by an IS sympathizer on November 2 in the city center of Vienna, no legal changes in criminal law would be necessary, as the turquoise green federal government is doing with the package. counter-terrorism that has now been evaluated. . As for the current criminal law against terrorism, the specific case “does not reveal a deficit”, says the judicial section of the commission’s interim report, which is available to the “Wiener Zeitung”. This does not mean, however, that there are no shortcomings and opportunities for improvement: the “work of de-radicalization” in the prison system must be improved, and in case conferences, various institutions must contribute to counter terrorist threats.
A “first assessment” by the investigative commission chaired by the Viennese criminal lawyer Ingeborg Zerbes in the nearly 25-page interim report also specifically refers to several mishaps weeks before the November 2 terrorist attack. Slovak and German intelligence services had informed constitutional protectors in Austria of an arms purchase attempt in Bratislava and of the killer’s meeting with German extremists this summer. However, based on the current state of knowledge, more detailed investigations have apparently been omitted.
There is a clear criticism of mishaps and errors in the report on the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Against Terrorism, BVT for short, and the Protection of the Constitution in Vienna, this part was for Interior Minister Karl Nehammer ( ÖVP). As for the work of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, “it seems” that the various criteria according to which the murderer is developing “in the direction of further radicalization were only seen sporadically and with some delay,” it reads in the document determined by the commission of inquiry.
No report to the prosecutor
No one took the incidents with the intelligence agencies as an opportunity to make a “higher risk classification” for the subsequent killer. “It is also not clear why the prosecutor was not informed of any of the facts,” criticizes the commission’s report. At least a procedure could have been initiated to revoke the murderer’s parole, experts denounce.
In the discussions, members of the Federal Office and the Vienna State Office for the Protection of the Constitution complained about their high burden and lack of technical and human resources, the report said. In addition, in the BVT there is a “great uncertainty among the workforce”, the investigating commission analyzes. This is due in particular to the search operation in 2018 (during the mandate of FPÖ Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, note), according to the interim report.
There is no answer to the question “what if”
However, later in the interim report it literally says: “It will never be possible to determine what reactions of the authorities to the events of KF (killer, note), which are now put together in hindsight, how they would have worked in KF.” This is followed by the central phrase: “None of the weaknesses identified in the flow of information, no delay can be classified even remotely as a cause of the November 2 attack.” This is followed by: “‘What if’? This question, to which many would like a simple answer, cannot be solved. Nor can there be a risk-free society.”
However, that does not mean that the investigating commission did not find deficiencies. The two main points of the complaints and the suggestions for improvement concern the de-radicalization of the convicted culprits and the increased cooperation between the authorities through case conferences.
Deradicalization and case conferences
Regarding rehabilitation, the report on religious extremists states: “In general, and regardless of the specific case, the commission’s discussions in the area of parole assistance and supervision clearly show that the work of de-radicalization, which would also be important in prison, is structural and should be better anchored in the law and better equipped financially. ” Had the attempted purchase of an assault rifle been known, the conversations between the supervisors would have “probably left the fairly harmless terrain of an abstract discussion about religion,” the commission said. The prosecutor could have been involved.
Greater cooperation between public authorities is also suggested. “It makes sense, with respect to offenders convicted of a terrorism offense, to consider organizing case conferences in which the various institutions, all of which are supposed to contribute to security, periodically exchange information in a confidential setting.” says in the report.
The Minister of Justice, Alma Zadic (Greens), believes that nothing prevents the judicial part of the Commission’s report from being made public, as she did. Zadic stressed that improvements in de-radicalization and case conferences would already be implemented with the anti-terror package.
