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be “willing to talk, but extremely skeptical”said security spokesman Hannes Amesbauer on Tuesday at a press conference in Innsbruck on advances by ÖVP Interior Minister Gerald Karner. In principle, one is of course in favor of the police and authorities being able to do everything possible to prevent such attacks in advance. You have only seen in times of the corona pandemic, “how quickly fundamental rights and freedoms can be undermined”, Amesbauer pointed out at the press conference with Tyrol’s FPÖ leader Markus Abwerzger. Before seriously discussing additional means of surveillance, “all doubts about party political impartiality” the Directorate for State Security and Intelligence (DSN), the security spokesman demanded: “We have serious doubts about the independence of the authority”. It shouldn’t be that “Government criticism per se criminalized” will and under the “pretense of fighting terrorism” statements critical of the government would be spied on, as it were.
Fundamental rights monitoring required
“In my opinion, if you do something like this, you also need a kind of fundamental rights monitoring”, explained the member of the National Council. Abwerzger also said yes “basically yes” to additional surveillance measures, but also brought the necessary protection of fundamental rights into play. The ÖVP should present something specific, which will not happen anyway, since the turquoise-green government does not agree on this point, and it would be better to re-elect in the fall anyway. According to Abwerzger, who is a civil lawyer, there are currently no legal options for such additional measures and monitoring. For example, he could imagine using such means from an alleged offense that has a penalty of ten years imprisonment.
Amesbauer also recalled that the “last attempts” – with free government participation – to install something like that in Austria “have been lifted by the Constitutional Court”. At that time, however, the aim was to only take such measures with “concrete risk and suspicious situation” as well as with a court order and in individual cases. In any case, the current positioning of the FPÖ is about “no change of heart”.
Regarding the planned attack itself, Amesbauer said that it should be noted that the suspected Islamist perpetrators targeted precisely those who “want to encourage and whitewash such immigration”. It’s about one “clear Islamist background”. Abwerzger also criticized Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens), who absolutely did not want to say that it was one “attempted Islamist terrorist attack” act. Such a minister is out of place and should resign.
Source: Nachrichten
