Falling from the wall

Kirchtag drama: Villach defends itself against expert opinion

Mourning candles at the site of the accident.(Bild: Katrin Fister)

A year ago, a 20-year-old party guest from Feldkirchen fell three meters over a wall on the Draulände to his death - just in the week of the church festival, an expert opinion commissioned by the public prosecutor's office has now been made public, according to which the city of Villach is threatened with criminal charges.

After the terrible tragedy a year ago at the Villach Kirchtag, the public prosecutor's office initiated investigations into "grossly negligent homicide" as standard. As reported in detail, a 20-year-old carpenter from the Feldkirchen district fell from a three-meter-high wall while urinating on the party mile on the Draulände. He succumbed to his serious injuries in hospital.

Third-party fault ruled out
"The aim of the proceedings is to find out whether there were any signs of external influence or external fault, or even a possible lack of safety precautions on the site," said the responsible public prosecutor's office in Klagenfurt at the time. Although it was possible to rule out the possibility of third-party negligence relatively quickly, investigations in the other direction continued until recently.

Now an expert report commissioned and submitted to the city of Villach is causing a stir in the town on the Drau: "The public prosecutor's office has concluded that the construction of the wall in 1960/61 was not appropriate. And that its renovation or expansion in 1991/92 was not carried out sufficiently or adapted to the specifications. But we don't see it that way," explains Villach's head of municipal administration Alfred Winkler to the "Krone".

We will now call in a lawyer and have the technical and legal aspects checked. We have not yet had access to the file.

so Villachs Magistrats-Chef Alfred Winkler zur „Krone“

In plain language, the expert opinion states that the wall along the Draulände is a few centimetres too low (unofficially there is talk of 20 cm). However, this is "only" in accordance with the flood protection regulations. Whether these few centimeters would have prevented the 20-year-old from climbing onto the wall will never be known. What is certain, however, is that the city is now facing criminal charges or legal action for gross negligence.

"Austria-wide explosiveness"
Villach is now vehemently opposing this. "We will now call in a lawyer and have the technical and legal aspects checked. We have not yet had access to the file. And as a result, we will then submit a statement to the judiciary. This is an explosive issue throughout Austria. Because if it really is the case that river walls that were built 60 or 70 years ago have to be regularly adapted, then we will soon have a major issue in many towns and municipalities in Austria," says Winkler.