Do fundamental rights also apply to suspects in criminal cases? The ÖVP is currently devoting itself to this topic. In concrete terms, the discussion is about whether there should be a ban on citing media from files.
Against this background, constitutional minister Karoline Edtstadler proposed on social networks on Saturday to impose such a ban, referring to the model in force in Germany. “Fundamental rights apply to all people, including suspects in criminal proceedings,” she argued in the recent initiative.
“Significant Imbalance”
“Of course there is a public interest in reporting crimes, suspicions, investigations and criminal proceedings – especially when it comes to politics or the sensitive issue of corruption,” Edtstadler said. Likewise, “courageous investigative journalism” is central to the system of “checks and balances”. In the recent past, however, in many cases practically everything in the criminal file has also been made public, the minister criticized this “significant imbalance”.
According to Edtstadler, boundaries must be drawn
Edtstadler is now “about drawing a necessary line” between the roles in the rule of law: “The media investigate and report, the police and prosecutors investigate and discover, and the judge weighs and decides.” has fundamental rights, which also have a constitutional status, such as the right to a fair trial and thus the presumption of innocence and the protection of private life.
Germany as a role model
Austria therefore needs a quote ban following the German model for the preliminary investigation phase, i.e. before any indictment and thus public hearings, the minister said. The public need for information can also be sufficiently satisfied without quoting verbatim from criminal files, without reprinting entire interrogations or private chats that fill the front pages.
Source: Krone
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