After the financial affair

“Dirt bucket campaign” – now the FPÖ strikes back

The immunity of FPÖ parliamentary party leader Mario Kunasek and Stefan Hermann will once again be lifted in the Styrian parliament on Tuesday. The reason for this are further charges in the explosive blue financial affair. Now the Freedom Party is launching a legal counter-attack.

The public prosecutor's office in Klagenfurt has once again applied for the parliamentary immunity of Styrian FPÖ leader Mario Kunasek and provincial party secretary Stefan Hermann to be lifted. This is said to have been triggered by a complaint from former FPÖ member and current KFG party chairman Alexis Pascuttini, who has accused his former party colleagues of coercion and making dangerous threats.

Alexis Pascuttini probably no longer has many friends in the FPÖ.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Michael Buchner, Jakob Traby)

The application by the public prosecutor's office will be approved today in the Styrian state parliament - against the votes of the Freedom Party MPs. For the FPÖ, this is the final culmination of an "ÖVP-controlled smear campaign". That is why it is now going on the offensive. "It is unacceptable that there are constant attempts to intimidate leading FPÖ MPs by means of criminal accusations. This is precisely what immunity is supposed to protect elected representatives from," the party wrote in a press release on Tuesday. The "outrageous accusations" will therefore definitely end in a legal suspension.

Pascuttini as an "ÖVP political puppet"
The Graz KFG municipal councillor Pascuttini is described in the letter as an "ÖVP political puppet". His accusations should be seen against the background of the provincial election campaign and the promotion of his book. They are currently working on a complaint for defamation and false evidence. "However, this is just the beginning of a series of charges against those forces that have been trying for months to accuse Mario Kunasek, Stefan Hermann and Gerald Deutschmann of criminal conduct."