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Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Is this "Democracy" ???

Sometimes I am close to dispair. ....
Let me give you a short summary of the background of this story:
There is a man in Carinthia, by name of Uwe Scheuch. Uwe came up through the ranks of a right wing political party until he finally made it to Leader of the FPK, the "Freiheitliche Partei Kaerntens" (The Liberty Party of Carinthia) and to Deputy Premier of the Province of Carinthia.
In January of 2010  Carinthia's Prosecutor began investigating charges against Uwe, the Deputy Leader of the Party in Power, for Corruption. The charges were based on an accusation, fortified by tape recordings, in which Uwe, during a conversation with a wealthy Russian indicates that he could certainly assist in obtaining Austrian citizenship for this potential investor, but that he expected that some of the money would flow into the party coffers. That, Uwe said, (in English) "is part of the game".
On the 2nd of August, a courageous Judge, Liebhauser-Karl, after having heard extensive evidence,  found Mr. Scheuch guilty as charged and pronounced a sentence of 18 month Jail, only 6 of which unconditional.
Of course, Uwe, as is his right, filed an appeal to the higher court.
So far, so good: There are corrupt officials and courageous judges everywhere.
It is extremely difficult, however, to imagine the storm of outrage which broke loose: The Premier of the Province called the Judge incompetent, questioning if the judgement had been the same if Mr. Scheuch belonged to a different political party and classifying Mr. Scheuch's remarks to the potential investor, as "Kaffeklatsch" (Coffe-house chatter)
Then came letters to the Newspapers, one of them suggesting that "if this were happening in Calabria
( A Maffia Stronghold ), the Judge would be dead by now.
Other death threats came via mail and e-mail.
Is this the way in which citizens of a civilized country react to a judgement of their court?

The sad story continues:
There is a lovely city in Carinthia, called Villach:
The good citizens of this city had a "Kirchtag" , a big party with music, and general merry-making, ending in a long parade.
Wolfgang Schneider, thought it would be funny to stand on the side lines of this parade, dressed in a T-shirt with the self inscribed logo: "Uwe geh in Haefn...it's all part of the game" ( Uwe, go to jail ... it's all part of the game.) Some members of Uwe's political party, the FPK, did not like this inscription, and commenced a physical attack against Wolfgang, attempting to tear off the offending t-shirt. Then these hooligans called the cops, insisting that Wolfgang be arrested because "he obstructed their parade route."
The police officer asked wolfgang to "move on".. Wolfgang insisted on his right to stay there  (This is a public place, he suggested)... The Police officer considered this an affront to his authority and before Wolfgang Schneider, an Austrian Citicen, who simply stood on the side of the road, watching a parade go by, realized what was happening, he was lying on his stomach, on the street, his arms bent back and hand cuffs snapped in place. He was arrested and charged with : "Actions against Public Order."
As Wolfgang said, he was most disturbed at the non-chalant manner in which bystanders accepted these happenings....
So, here we have it:
A Politician (Provincial Deputy Premier) convicted of Corruption (appeal Pending)
The Provincial Premier saying "I do not accept this judgment"
Other high ranking Politician pronouncing the Judge "Incompetent"...
Death threats against the Judge
A Citizen viewing a parade, wearing a t-shirt expressing his opinion
Political hooligans attacking this man
A cop disrespecting this citizen's right to be in a public place.

Oh, my dear Austria... where goest thou ????

Find me a Democrat
Bertstravels.


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