by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
VIENNA, Austria – Seven members of the Austrian Neo-Nazi Political Party, “Object 21” were sentenced to up to six years in prison for “re-engagement with National Socialism.”
The judge started at the conviction that these convictions should serve as an example to the rest of the country. Austria, which has a sensitive Nazi past, criminalized re-engagement with National Socialism in 1947.
The members of the Object 21 Party were convicted on late Monday. The prosecution’s witnesses linked the Party members to an illegal prostitution scheme. The trial had been held in the Upper Austria province.
The prosecution and police, who had surveyed the Party since 2009, stated that the Object 21 party is known for committing widespread arson attacks, dealing weapons and drugs, and the prostitution scheme.
The prosecution’s evidence included a video showing the Party members giving a “Sieg Heil” salutes in their meeting building, known as the “Arms Factory”. The two main members of the group were sentenced to four and six years in jail, respectively, and stated they intend to appeal the conviction. The others were given sentences of between 18 months and two and a half years. All seven members of Object 21 had pleaded not guilty.
The presiding judge had been reportedly quoted as saying the sentences were meant to have a “preventative” impact on anyone “tempted” by Neo-Nazism. A spokeswoman for the prosecution stated investigations will continue into suspected crimes by other Neo- Nazi gang members.
Austria became a democratic country shortly after World War II by passing the Anti-Nazi Prohibition Act, after the country had been a part of Hitler’s Nazi Third Reich from 1938 to 1945. In 1992, the Act was broadened to criminalize denying the Holocaust ever occurred, as well as minimizing the effects of any Nazi crimes.
In its 2012 annual report, Austria’s BVT, its counter-terrorism agency, downplayed the imminent threat of Neo-Nazi crimes, issuing a statement that a legal crackdown had deprived the Nazi revisionist movement of its leaders. With the Neo-Nazi’s suspected ringleaders on trial, right-wing radical Nazis kept a low profile, but in many regions were gaining ties with criminal gangs, the Austrian BVT said.
Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, which got more than one-fifth of the vote in the September general election, rejects Neo-Nazi ideology but attracts some sympathizers with its anti-foreigner and anti-Islam rhetoric.
For more information, please see:
ABC News – Austrian Court Finds 7 Guilty of Neo-Nazi Crimes – 5 November 2013
BBC News – Austria Court Jails Seven Members of Neo-Nazi Group – 5 November 2013
Yahoo News, UK & Ireland – Austrian Neo-Nazi Group Members Get up to Six Years’ Prison – 5 November 2013
The Jerusalem Post – Austrian Neo-Nazi Group Members Get up to Six Years’ Prison – 5 November 2013
