The strategy of “talking is silver, silence is gold” did not work for a defendant at the trial on Thursday in the Ried regional court. He gave no answers to questions from judge Josef Lautner. All he could get out of him several times was “I’m not answering the question.”
A 58-year-old had to answer for the crime of preparing drug trafficking in the Braunau and Zwettl districts. The man is considered a “gun nut” and is part of an extensive investigation into drug possession, arms trafficking and re-activation against several people, including members of the notorious motorcycle and rocker club “Bandidos”, the OÖN has reported in detail. A large part of the extensive weapons finds are said to have been found on the 58-year-old. The investigation is ongoing.
“The defendant wanted to sell around 700 grams of cocaine,” said prosecutor Petra Stranzinger. “My client only pleads guilty to the possession of the drugs. But not to the accusation that he wanted to sell the drug,” said defense attorney Lorenz Kirschner.
The defendant already has seven previous convictions. In Germany in 1998 he was sentenced to seven years in prison for “unauthorized gang trafficking in narcotics.” The Waldviertel native, who is said to have close contacts with the red light district in the Braunau district, was also already in prison in Austria.
Further investigations are underway against the 58-year-old, including for re-activation and offenses under the Weapons and War Material Act. The police investigation shows that there were a lot of movements involving large amounts of money in various accounts belonging to the accused. However, a direct attribution to possible drug deals cannot be traced from this, said Judge Lautner. “The defendant had the intention to market the cocaine for profit. There is no doubt about that,” said public prosecutor Petra Stranzinger in her closing argument. “There is insufficient evidence to support preparation for drug trafficking,” said defense attorney Kirschner.
Two years unconditional imprisonment
“The fact that you possessed this large amount of cocaine for your own consumption is completely unrelated to life, and there is no evidence that you are a drug addict. Of course you wanted to market the drug,” said Judge Lautner, justifying the guilty verdict in accordance with the criminal complaint. The verdict: two years of unconditional imprisonment. The guilty verdict is not legally binding. The defendant filed a full appeal and the public prosecutor is demanding a higher sentence.
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Source: Nachrichten
