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Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) announced her decision on Sunday: Christian Pilnacek, recently criticized, will head the criminal law section starting tomorrow, September 1. The former head of the “International Criminal Law” department, Barbara Göth-Flemmich, will become head of the “Individual Criminal Law” section.
Based on the results of the review committee, both are the most suitable candidates. Zadic referred the proposals to Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, who is responsible for the final decision. Van der Bellen had already signed, it was said from his office.
In May, Zadic surprisingly announced the division of the criminal law section that had been merged ten years ago. The move amounted to the loss of power of Pilnacek, who had been responsible for both criminal law and specialized supervision of criminal proceedings since 2010. He has caused a stir in recent months because he met defendants related to the vice president in the casino affair and had a public dispute with the corruption prosecutor. The section division was not about the person of the section head, Zadic said in an OÖN interview last week. There was an imbalance in this section because the person who wrote the law could decide on the charges at the same time.
Christian pilnacek
Photo: BMJ / Dagan
“With this reorganization in the Ministry of Justice, we want to structurally implement the internal separation of powers and at the same time ensure the independence of the investigative work of the Public Ministry and promote important reforms in criminal law,” said Zadic this Sunday.
This makes Göth-Flemmich the second section chief to head a section in the Ministry of Justice. She was recognized internationally with her election on two occasions (2006 and 2018) as President of the Group of Experts of the Council of Europe on the Application of the Conventions of the Council of Europe in the Area of Criminal Law. In the case of Pilnacek, the ministry emphasized that in recent years it has been responsible for both the Amendment Laws of the Criminal Procedure Law, the Criminal Corruption Law Amendment Law, the Sexual Criminal Law Amendment Law and the Protection Against Violence Act, the complementary justice legislation Covid-19 and the package of measures against online hate.
