An alleged victim of police brutality was convicted of defamation and false testimony by the Vienna Regional Criminal Court on Monday. The 41-year-old man was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
“I think that is unjustified. I will take action against the decision,” the 41-year-old appealed against his first-instance conviction in court. In any case, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) has yet to hear the case. hearing, the 41-year-old told the two media representatives present: “That’s how the courts are. unfair.”
Alleged police officer abuse
The man claims that he was assaulted by an officer at a police station on April 13, 2022. The injuries he sustained after leaving the office – including a bloodshot eye, facial bruising and redness of the conjunctiva – have been documented in photographs and in the form of hospital records. The police officer had given him four to five blows to the left side of his face, one just above the eye, the man originally stated in his ad. He also stated that he had suffocated until he could no longer breathe. “I told the truth. I did not lie,” the previously innocent defendant assured the court.
The interrogation got out of hand
At the start of the trial in July, the 24-year-old police officer stated as a witness on the basis of the truth that the Defendant had become increasingly aggressive during the interrogation of the Defendant at his police station. He was afraid that the enraged man would jump out of the chair and attack him, so he tried to hold him with both hands and prevent him from getting up. Due to an evasive movement, the man’s head landed hard on the table, with the tabletop being the subject of discussion. There were “obvious injuries”, the police officer admitted, and it was “quite a violent impact”, which suddenly became the edge of the table.
Defense attorney Graupner is confident that this statement has been modified to fit the expert’s findings, insofar as the coroner ruled out at the hearing that the facial injuries were caused by a tabletop. His client’s conviction was a “signal that police attacks will have no consequences,” Graupner feared.
The judge, on the other hand, had a clear opinion in the verdict: “You made this story up.”
Contrary to “all human rights norms”.
The Viennese lawyer emphasized that in this case “all human rights standards” had been contradicted in several respects. The 41-year-old reported the alleged police attack on another police station half an hour later. As a result, his arrest was ordered – specifically by the suspected officer, to whose office the 41-year-old was subsequently transferred. This was undoubtedly in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, Graupner stated: “The Human Rights Council demands procedural rights from victims.”
Source: Krone
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