Disciplinary offense

Kurz judge sentenced for betrayal of secrets

Judge Michael Radasztics in the trial against former Chancellor Kurz(Bild: APA/Helmut Fohringer)

The judge in the Kurz trial was sentenced to a disciplinary penalty in May 2023 for betrayal of secrets. As became public on Tuesday, Michael Radasztics committed a breach of duty during his time as a public prosecutor in the Eurofighter affair.

On Friday evening, Judge Michael Radasztics sentenced former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to eight months' conditional imprisonment for giving false testimony - not legally binding. Kurz appealed, the prosecutors of the economic and corruption prosecution are satisfied with the verdict.

3760 euros
On Tuesday evening, it became known that Radasztics had already been sentenced to a disciplinary penalty in May 2023. In the amount of 3760 euros, which corresponds to half a gross monthly salary. However, as both the prosecuting senior public prosecutor's office and Radasztics himself lodged appeals - and only withdrew them in December 2023 - the decision only became legally binding at the end of the year. At this point, the false statement trial against Sebastian Kurz had already been running for two months.

Judge Michael Radasztics in the trial against former Chancellor Kurz(Bild: APA/Helmut Fohringer)

If he had been smart, he would have said: 'I'm not doing that'.

Justizexperte über Richter Michael Radasztics und den Kurz-Prozess

Secrecy breached with Pilz
The conviction relates to Radasztics' former work as a public prosecutor: on the one hand, he is said to have breached his duties in the Eurofighter case, as he failed to inform the accused former finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser about the ongoing criminal proceedings in 2012. Secondly, in the same case in 2018, he informed the politician Peter Pilz that he had to return an investigation file to the Ministry of Defense due to an instruction - something Radasztics should not have done. However, he did not pass on any information from the file or the file itself to Pilz. Pilz has always been a fierce critic of Kurz.

"Tremendous sloppiness"
Insiders consider it somewhat astonishing that it took around two months for the judge's conviction to make its way into the legal information system (RIS). The 14-page document has only appeared there since Monday. In any case, this is "an enormous sloppiness. However, there are no sanctions," says a justice expert. The fact that Radasztics took over the trial against Kurz despite a first-instance conviction also seems remarkable to the justice expert: "If he had been smart, he would have said: 'I'm not doing that'."

As reported, former Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was sentenced to eight months' conditional imprisonment on Friday for making a false statement in the Ibiza Investigation Committee. His former head of cabinet Bernhard Bonelli received a conditional prison sentence of six months for the same offense. The defense intends to appeal the sentences, which means that they are not legally binding. The Public Prosecutor's Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA), on the other hand, has not announced any appeal against the Kurz verdict.