"Defamation of character"

Paulus Manker is now acting as his own lawyer

Paulus Manker at the trial in Vienna provincial court.(Bild: Richter)

Südbahnhotel owner Christian Zeller has filed a private lawsuit against director Paulus Manker, who produced "Alma" at the hotel in Semmering. Officially, the lawsuit in Vienna's Landl district is about insults and defamation - but obviously much more about personal grievances. 

"It's a shame that we're all wasting so much time here," one witness sums it up. The artistic director of Südbahnhotel Kultur GmbH is visibly angry with Paulus Manker: "We could have played to a full house for another ten years," she says, annoyed by the dispute.

Hardened fronts
Because Manker had not adhered to agreements, the producer, who created the impressive plays "The Last Days of Mankind" and "Alma" in the former hotel in Semmering, had his contract terminated. The owner of the Südbahnhotel, Christian Zeller, took director Paulus Manker to court for various insults in the media - from "psychopath" to "money-grabbing canaille" to "charlatan". This private accusation has already been debated over several days of hearings in Vienna's regional court. The rifts are deep. And the mutual accusations are drifting further and further away from the content of the private prosecution.

Among other things, the trial is once again about ten "Alma" tickets that were sold by Kultur GmbH and not by Manker as the organizer. Apparently, Manker had denied the owner access to his own hotel on August 4. Because Manker did not want to let the guests of the GmbH in and is said to have covered the doors with chains so that the ten people could not enter the building, security guards arrived. According to Manker, this was a "gang of thugs" organized by Zeller. 

Charges have been extended
There is no end in sight to the dispute. It is also not the only case pending in connection with the production. And the private prosecution is also dragging on. At the start of the trial day, Zeller expands his accusation to include defamation. Because Manker had accused the plaintiff of subsidy fraud in the Kurier. And had insulted him again in this article. "I maintain the allegations. Because they are true," says Manker, who is acting as his own lawyer in court this time. And he also plays this role as if he were miming a lawyer in a courtroom drama.

The difference is that this time it's about a criminal conviction. But the audience waits in vain for an end to the drama on Thursday. Adjourned.