The abuse of office trial against former top officials of the now-defunct Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) continues. They are accused of bringing a Syrian general and suspected war criminal to Austria in 2015 and obtaining asylum for him here.
The defendants have not yet pleaded guilty. “That is nonsense, what is in the indictment,” a chief inspector said in court on Tuesday. The official was executing a cooperation agreement that the BVT had made with Israel’s foreign intelligence agency Mossad. Accordingly, the general, who had managed a prison in Raqqa and at least knew about the torture of opponents of the Syrian regime, should be taken to Austria. He had previously applied for asylum in France, where he was reportedly no longer safe.
Only acted on behalf of the manager
That seemed “absolutely plausible,” the former chief inspector said in Vienna on Tuesday. He was only acting on behalf of his superior. “If I get called names as a typist to the head of the department, so be it. You don’t ask that. Instructions are instructions,” the officer said. You can’t “question every instruction.” He knew the details of the legal provisions on aliens, but only followed the guidelines.
By honoring the cooperation agreement with the Mossad, there was an advantage for Austria. For example, relevant information about the situation in Syria and Syrians who have fled to Europe has been made known and written down. In the summer of 2015, the BVT officer took over the general in Salzburg, where he had been brought from France, drove him to Traiskirchen, attended his first interrogation by the aliens police and found him shelter. On December 2, 2015, the Syrian was granted asylum.
General still in Austria
In early 2016, an NGO – the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) – approached the Justice Department with indications of possible war crimes committed by the general. According to the suspect, however, she had not provided “any piece of evidence”. The public prosecutor’s office in Vienna is investigating the general for involvement in physical harm and torture in Syria, with the investigations relating to 2013. In addition, an asylum withdrawal procedure has been completed. However, the man remains in Austria because for human rights reasons he cannot currently be deported to Syria without taking into account the risk to his life.
Incidentally, another similar case ended without a positive asylum decision. In Upper Austria, there was an asylum seeker who also worked in Raqqa as a senior member of the Syrian secret service. According to the official, he described the general in question as “too friendly to people”.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
