Former conservative Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz was found guilty of perjury on Friday, following a trial where he was accused of lying before a parliamentary committee.
“Sebastian Kurz is guilty
,” declared the judge in Vienna, sentencing him to 8 months in prison, suspended at first instance, following the prosecution's requisition.
Previously, during his last statement, the 37-year-old former head of government - who can appeal - said he felt
"disarmed"
and
"very bad"
at being accused, assuring that he had never had the intention to lie.
Throughout the twelve days of hearing, this former political prodigy, converted consultant in the private sector, proclaimed his innocence, blaming prosecutors and adversaries for his legal setbacks.
“They wanted to destroy me
,” he said.
Having become the youngest elected leader on the planet at age 31 in 2017, before retiring with a bang in the fall of 2021, he was accused of having lied before a parliamentary committee.
First chancellor on the benches of justice in more than 30 years, Sebastian Kurz refuted having
“knowingly”
misled MPs when they questioned him in 2020 about his role in the appointment of a close friend, Thomas Schmid, as head of a very powerful public holding company.
“I was informed but it was not me who decided
,” he said, while the prosecution on the contrary portrayed him as controlling everything in his political formation, relying in particular on numerous Text messages scrutinized.
Kurz called two Russian businessmen to testify
In Austria, interfering in an appointment process is not a crime in itself, but concealing the truth while being questioned under oath is punishable by three years in prison.
The witnesses called - around ten in total, including former ministers - mostly defended his version of the facts.
With the exception, however, of the main protagonist: Thomas Schmid, the ex-friend who is now cooperating with the justice system in the hope of a reduced sentence.
He overwhelmed him during a two-day hearing, evoking
“a Kurz system”
, to say that he liked to intervene in nominations.
In order to discredit him, Sebastian Kurz called on two Russian businessmen and the last day of the trial began with the testimony of the second of them, who spoke by video from the Austrian embassy in Moscow.
“A grotesque final act”
, according to the daily Der Standard: the first had already left the audience perplexed by declaring that the defendant's lawyer had helped him write his statement.
The former chancellor is also suspected of having embezzled public funds
Sebastian Kurz
“does not emerge from the way he behaved during the trial
,” said political analyst Thomas Hofer, interviewed by AFP.
“He acted like a politician obsessed with his public image, who did not really know how to adapt to the tempo of the court
. ”
In addition to this trial, the ex-leader is suspected of having misappropriated public funds to commission rigged opinion surveys and ensure laudatory coverage in tabloids, following his meteoric rise.
For this corruption aspect, the investigation is still ongoing.
So many cases arising from the resounding so-called
“Ibizagate”
scandal .
In 2019, a hidden camera video taken on the Spanish island of Ibiza during a vacation of Austrian officials revealed potentially fraudulent practices in the political class.
In these conditions, Thomas Hofer does not envisage a return of Sebastian Kurz to the forefront of the political scene in the near future.
Some, however, would have seen him saving his former party (ÖVP), which is struggling in the polls, far behind the far right, given the lead in the legislative elections, scheduled for the end of September.
He himself denies any ambition, preferring to increase lucrative international collaborations in the private sector, particularly in circles close to Donald Trump.