An emotional Sebastian Kurz testified in court on Friday. If the ex-chancellor had admitted the need to testify, the trial might already have been over. Kurz attacked the WKStA and Thomas Schmid.
It was a penalty that simply left ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz behind.
What exactly is it about?
If he had taken this opportunity, he might have gone home on the second day of the trial as a blameless man. Judge Martin Radasztics sent the right signals. What exactly is it about? About the so-called declaration of a state of emergency.
You can read the most important events of the second day of the trial here.
Short formulations were characterized by anxiety
Untruths can be told before the University Committee to avoid criminal liability. However, one would have to admit this fact, which the ex-chancellor apparently cannot handle. With his opening statement, the former ÖVP boss had prepared everything perfectly for the emergency declaration. Kurz emotionally described the heated atmosphere at the U-Committee in 2020.
Sovereign judge
He admitted that he had gone to the University committee unprepared. The pressure was great because he knew that the ‘opposition wanted to destroy him’. He did not lie, but his ‘wordings were influenced by fear of persecution’. – At this point the judge intervenes. “I should check if you needed an explanation. But that presupposes a false statement. If you sit before me and say that you testified correctly, then I can only investigate it speculatively.”
Kurz demands acquittal
That would have been the moment when Kurz would have had to jump over his shadow and admit that he had to make a statement. But the ex-chancellor strives for an outright acquittal, a ‘clarification’. He insists that he tried to testify truthfully in the U-Committee. In his statement, Kurz mentioned two enemies in particular: the WKStA and Thomas Schmid. The trial revolves around the appointment of Schmid as sole director of the state holding company ÖBAG and the question to what extent Kurz was involved.
“If Thomas Schmid spoke to me about the appointment at the time, I can assure you that it was more important to him than to me,” Kurz said in response to WKStA’s accusations that he had concealed his active role in the appointment. the University Committee. Schmid couldn’t get enough of what the ex-chancellor wanted to express with the chat message ‘You get everything you want’. He “aspired to be chairman of the supervisory board for all investments.”
“Did you get that printed on your face?”
Kurz claims not to have received any support from Schmid in the appointment of ÖBAG’s supervisory board. Kurz emphasized that he favored the entrepreneur Siegfried Wolf: “Thomas Schmid did not want a strong supervisory board.” And: “He fought the wolf.” The judge was amazed: “And you let all this slide in your face? ”
Kurz then remained steadfastly silent in response to the WKStA’s questions. His lawyer Otto Dietrich requests that Thomas Schmid be the first to provide information, which the judge and the WKStA are in favor of. Continued on Monday.
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.
