19 years at the top – Former VfGH president Ludwig Adamovich passed away

Adamovich served as President of the Constitutional Court for nineteen years, from 1984 to 2002. After the end of his term, Adamovich served as honorary advisor on constitutional issues to then Federal President Heinz Fischer and current Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen.

Tireless exhorter and authority
VfGH President Christoph Grabenwarter praised Adamovich on Sunday as a tireless warning of the democratic rule of law: “Based on Austria’s historical experiences, the independence of the constitutional judiciary was a particular concern of his.” the highest respect in a joint broadcast: “With Ludwig Adamovich, Austria loses a renowned lawyer who has had a lasting impact on the legal landscape of our country,” emphasized the President of the National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP). As President of the Constitutional Court, he set high standards through his integrity and his tireless commitment to fundamental rights.

As VfGH president, Adamovich was “a constitutional authority in stormy domestic times,” emphasized Doris Bures (SPÖ), President of the Second National Council. “He always remained true to himself and the republic, even in the face of intense personal animosity.” “His commitment and his contribution to the legal landscape of our country will not be forgotten,” said Norbert Hofer (FPÖ), President of the Third National Council. . With Adamovich, Austria loses a “great lawyer and sincere defender of our constitution.”

Constitutional law in the cradle
The Supreme Court must soon mourn again the death of a former president: the former president of the Constitutional Court and Austria’s first female Chancellor, Brigitte Bierlein, only died at the beginning of June at the age of 74.

Adamovich was born in Innsbruck on August 24, 1932 and was taught constitutional law: his father of the same name was also president of the Constitutional Court after the Second World War until his death in 1955. Although he was actually more interested in medicine, the son – due to his lack of mathematical talent, as he himself explained – followed in his father’s footsteps and went to law school. After receiving his doctorate in 1954, he worked briefly in the Lower Austrian government before moving to the constitutional service of the Federal Chancellery in 1956. After completing his habilitation in 1974, he became a university professor of public law at the University of Graz. In 1976 he returned to the Constitutional Service and headed it as head of department.

In the 1970s, Adamovich gave up membership in the ÖVP party – and from then on had a tense relationship with his former party, also because Bruno Kreisky was his “biggest supporter”. Against their will, he became president of the VfGH in 1984, where he remained until 2002. Adamovich was not only the author of basic textbooks on constitutional law, but after leaving the Constitutional Court he also supported Federal Presidents Fischer and Van der Bellen with his constitutional expertise. From 2013 to 2017, Adamovich also chaired the Independent Party Transparency Senate.

Evaluation committee in the Kampusch case
In the media, Adamovich also publicly expressed himself as a critic of the investigation into the Kampusch case. Adamovich, who headed the evaluation committee in the Kampusch case in 2008, repeatedly made critical comments about the activities of the security authorities – and even after the proceedings against the five prosecutors were dropped in November 2011, he was convinced that many more Questions remain unanswered. Due to a controversial statement about the childhood of kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch – the time of her captivity was probably “better” “than what she has experienced before” – the former VfGH president was sued by Kampusch’s mother in 2009, but ultimately in 2010 acquitted in second instance.

Adamovich also devoted one of the twelve chapters of his memoirs entitled ‘Memoirs of a Nonconformist’, published in 2011, to the Kampusch case. In it, he gave an “ambivalent” assessment of his 19 years at the Constitutional Court – against the backdrop of many controversies, including with the FPÖ in connection with the Constitutional Court’s findings on the city sign. After massive attacks by Jörg Haider, Adamovich filed a voluntary complaint with the Constitutional Court in late 2001, which ruled that impeachment proceedings were not appropriate. Adamovich writes about this and the Kampusch case in his book that he repeatedly ‘made life more difficult than it had to be’. “But if you have a very specific idea of ​​justice, you inevitably have to confront it and also expect to be ridiculed.”