Vienna court acquits prominent neo-Nazi of banned propaganda charges

A regional court in Vienna has acquitted a 42-year-old man, identified as a prominent figure in the neo-Nazi scene and an associate of Gottfried Küssel, of charges related to the Prohibition Act. The defendant had been accused of wearing a jacket belonging to the ‘Unsterblich Wien’ hooligan group featuring SS Totenkopf motifs and a modified Reichskriegsflagge, as well as possessing extensive Nazi propaganda material.

The defendant claimed he had left the extremist scene and was unaware of the symbols on his clothing or the materials in his home. The jury acquitted him of the charges regarding banned activities, issuing only a three-month suspended sentence for illegal weapons possession.

Observers and the chairman of the Mauthausen Committee Austria, Willi Mernyi, criticized the proceedings, noting that the presiding judge demonstratively congratulated the defendant on his birthday during the trial. Critics pointed to a discrepancy in legal application, noting that another individual was convicted in August for wearing the same jacket despite having less involvement in extremist circles.