Is 41-year-old Julian Hessenthaler a courageous and selfless detective who wanted to uncover corruption by threading the Ibiza video, or is he an unscrupulous businessman who is said to have made his money from drug dealing?
Yesterday, the St. Pölten regional court found the accused guilty of selling a total of 1.25 kilos of cocaine to an acquaintance in 2017 and 2018 at a price of 40 euros per gram. Hessenthaler was also convicted because he possessed a fake Slovenian identity card and driving license and allegedly presented it to a police check in 2019. The verdict: three and a half years in prison.
The decision of the jury is not final. The defense filed a nullity complaint and appeal. It is therefore clear that the Supreme Court (OGH) will deal with the case.
Amnesty International and the data protection organization “epicenter.works” strongly criticized the verdict: the principle “in case of doubt for the accused” was “not sufficiently taken into account”. “We are looking forward to the verdict.” Both organizations see a “deterrent effect on future uncoverers”, it is about “attempts of intimidation”.
Cocaine was just an “accidental find”
As far as the narcotics are concerned, public prosecutor Bernd Schneider spoke yesterday in his closing argument of a “random find”: The cocaine was discovered in a vacuum cleaner bag in the basement of the future witness for the prosecution. The woman finally made a “life confession” and named Hessenthaler as one of her drug suppliers. “His past caught up with him,” said the prosecutor, adding that the charges “have nothing to do with the Ibiza video”. The drug allegations are “proven”.
There is “not a single piece of physical evidence” against him, countered the accused Hessenthaler. And that after months of intensive investigations by their own special commission, including phone surveillance and house searches. “This is more than unusual.” So he now had to “defend himself against the unilaterally investigating Soko and the public prosecutor’s office,” said the accused. The witnesses for the prosecution, the woman mentioned and her friend Slaven K., each adjusted their version, saying that there was no coherent story. The defendant even suspected that the witness for the prosecution had been “briefed on her statements” by investigators.
“Soko was close to Novomatic”
His former business partner told the untruth. And then there is also Gert Schmidt, the operator of the online platform eu-infothek.com. He paid Slaven K. for allegedly false information. Schmidt has lobbied for the Novomatic gaming group and is “close to Soko”. Hessenthaler located a dependency of the former turquoise-blue federal government on the Novomatic group, which is discussed in the Ibiza video. The accused, who has been in custody for 16 months, also stated: “No one would have believed all of this three years ago.” His defense attorney Wolfgang Auer sees “very well” a connection between the Ibiza video and the charges. Allegations – for example violations of the Narcotics Act – “had to be found” for the search and arrest measures, said the lawyer in the closing argument. “The political system in Austria is very prone to corruption.” It was about pursuing whistleblowers and “making an example”.
“Constructed Defense Line”
“The only thing that was constructed in this trial was the defendant’s line of defense,” prosecutor Schneider countered the criticism of Hessenthaler and his defense attorneys. All of this is just an attempt to “represent Hessenthaler as a victim of law enforcement agencies”. It’s about a “diversionary maneuver”. The prosecutor described the 41-year-old’s former business partner as “credible”. This man admitted that he was paid by Gert Schmidt for information about Hessenthaler – “but not for false allegations”. The statements of the two prosecution witnesses to the drug allegations would “basically agree”.
Witnesses credible for court
The head of the Senate agreed: the witnesses “given a credible impression” and “did not coordinate” their statements. Despite “numerous contradictions” the statements would “overlap”. Regarding the defense’s allegation that the verdict was reached through political influence, the judge said: “I can assure you, that is not the case.”
The Ibiza video
He came up with a concept, organized a false Russian oligarch’s niece as a decoy and hid the cameras in the now famous finca on Ibiza: the private detective Julian Hessenthaler, who is thus considered the “manger” of the Ibiza video.
The then FP boss Heinz-Christian Strache and the then FP club chairman Johann Gudenus fell into the video trap in July 2017 when they involuntarily flaunted their willingness to commit corruption.
The video became public in May 2019. The result was their resignations and the end of the turquoise-blue coalition.
Source: Nachrichten
