DNA processing only takes place in the case of offenses that are punishable by at least one year’s imprisonment.
With the start in 1997, Austria was the second country in Europe (after Great Britain) and the third country worldwide (after the USA) with such a database.
Experiences from the case of the serial killer Jack Unterweger, who was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Graz Regional Court in 1994 on the basis of, among other things, a DNA report that was admitted to court for the first time in Austria, were decisive for the institution. (Immediately after the verdict, Unterweger hanged himself in the prison cell).
According to the Ministry of the Interior, 627 murder cases have been clarified with the help of the database since its inception, 23 of them cold cases. Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) and Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (VP) visited the DNA laboratory in Mödling this week – one of four in Austria working for the Justice and Interior Ministries. “DNA evidence plays an important role in solving crimes,” said Zadic. This was also shown, for example, in the investigation of the brutal murders of women in Ebergassing and Greinsfurth in 2019, in which DNA traces turned out to be decisive evidence. Karner referred to “almost 30,000 suspects who could be identified”. In addition to Mödling, the other DNA laboratories are located at the Innsbruck forensic medicine department, in Salzburg and in Vienna.
Around 200 offenses are currently cleared up every month through hits in the national DNA database. The Ministry of the Interior emphasizes that there is a strict separation between database processing with personal information and anonymous laboratory analyses.
Attempted assassination of mayor
The investigation successes based on DNA evidence also include the attempted murder of the mayor of Spitzer at the time, Hannes Hirtzberger, who in February 2008 had a praline poisoned with strychnine and a ticket placed on his car. A male DNA trace was found in the envelope of the greeting card and the perpetrator was thus convicted.
Source: Nachrichten
