Investigations after attacks on Bürgermeister von Vösendorf

The city council meeting scheduled for today, Wednesday, will be monitored in particular by plainclothes and uniformed forces, according to police spokesman Raimund Schwaigerlehner. The mayor of Vösendorf, Hannes Koza, was attacked and threatened with death on Tuesday evening.

The mayor was attacked on his way home in the castle park. The ÖVP politician was punched in the face and threatened not to survive Wednesday’s city council meeting. Koza filed a complaint and went to the hospital for an X-ray examination. The mayor had made headlines several times earlier in the year. In May, he won the snap municipal election in Vösendorf by a large margin. The starting point of the vote was the investigations against Koza, investigations for breach of trust, incitement and abuse of office were discontinued in March.

As regards the allegation of forgery, there was a diversion. The local chief is said to have incurred costs from a legal dispute after a tweet reimbursed by the municipality and “fixed” a lawyer’s bill himself. It is said that the amount of 1,129.32 euros would have been passed as consulting costs for the purchase of a new fire truck. Koza reimbursed the amount.

Matthias Zauner, the state manager of the NÖ People’s Party, spoke of a “low point of political culture” on Wednesday. The fact that a mayor is physically attacked “has no place in a democracy”. After the attack, Zauner also called for careful choice of words. In the evening, ÖVP leader Chancellor Karl Nehammer also expressed his “horror”, as he explained on social media: “The active exercise of violence is completely unacceptable, I hope the perpetrators are found and brought to justice.”

While there have recently been increased attacks on politicians and campaign aides in Germany, such incidents are rare in Austria. However, the murder of a mayor in Mühlviertel at the end of October caused shock. The context of the double murder was hunting disputes.

This article was automatically translated, read the original article here.