"Psychological damage"

Insult and defamation: Manker sentenced

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

Theater maker Paulus Manker has lost out in a lawsuit brought by real estate investor and owner of the Südbahnhotel am Semmering, Christian Zeller. The Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters largely upheld a private prosecution brought by Zeller. Manker was found guilty of defamation and insult on Thursday afternoon.

He was given an unconditional fine of 560 euros (140 daily rates of four euros each). If Manker does not pay the amount, he will have to serve 70 days' substitute imprisonment if the judgment becomes final. Manker asked for time to reflect after the verdict was announced.

Whether the verdict becomes legally binding will therefore be decided next Monday. Zeller had sued Manker because he did not want to put up with various swear words he had used in various media and most recently even during the main hearing.

"Money-grubbing scoundrel"
In each case, guilty verdicts were handed down on the accusation that Zeller was a "money-grubbing canaille", an "intriguer", a "psychopath" and a "charlatan" with a "strange character" and "psychological damage". In the ongoing trial, Manker also called the plaintiff a "cultural faggot", which Judge Hartwig Handsur also deemed to be an "excessive insult" and therefore a criminal offense.

Only on two points - Manker's allegations that Zeller had committed "flawless subsidy fraud" and had deployed a "thug squad" - did the court of first instance not consider the offense of insult or defamation to be fulfilled.

Disagreements with the hotel owner
The director had staged his successful productions "Alma" and "The Last Days of Mankind" at the Südbahnhotel. However, there were disagreements with the owner of the hotel. Manker claimed that he had been subjected to harassment. For example, the heating was turned off in April 2023 and contractual clauses were disregarded.

Zeller, in turn, claimed that Manker had disregarded the terms of the contract and "occupied" his hotel. The eviction then took place at the end of January 2024. According to the Südbahnhotel, the last regular screening of Manker's "The Last Days of Mankind" took place on September 30, 2023.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christian Jauschowetz, orf.at)

Manker refused to move out
"According to the contract, the artist should have vacated the hotel 45 days later at the latest. But Manker refused to move out and blocked the hotel premises with the props ever since," Südbahnhotel Kultur GmbH announced in a press release at the time. Following an action for eviction, he was therefore evicted.

Manker was unreasonable to the end
Manker refused to accept his guilt in the criminal court until the end. His closing statement was an extensive monologue in which he called Zeller "ruthless and shameless", among other things. The latter had lured him to the Südbahnhotel with his two "successful productions" and wanted to become "filthy rich" by claiming two thirds of all income from ticket sales, sponsorship and subsidies for himself, claimed Manker.

On two evenings, the audience and the actors were "locked out" of the performance by "ten Macedonians dressed in black".