The Austrian Association of sworn and court-certified interpreters (ÖVGD) sees constitutional problems when “non-certified, sometimes unqualified interpreters” are used more frequently. The association referred to proceedings at the Salzburg Regional Court in which a non-certified interpreter was involved with the key witness. The criminal case concerns a drug trafficking with at least 13.8 million Captagon stimulant tablets with a sales value of around 40 million euros. 14 people are charged. The accused are said to have smuggled the drugs from Lebanon to Austria. The prosecution’s indictment is based to a large extent on information provided by an Iraqi man, who is considered the key witness for the prosecution. He is said to have had a relationship with the main interpreter in the investigation since June 2019.
The woman was used in many police interrogations. But you kept the relationship with the key witness secret. The defense attorney for four defendants, attorney Kurt Jelinek, sees a scandal and stated that the interpreter, as the partner of the key witness, should be judged as biased.
The spokesman for the Salzburg Regional Court, Peter Egger, said on Friday that the interpreter had been removed from the list of interpreters at the Salzburg Regional Court about a week ago – “due to the incidents in the preliminary proceedings”. The woman will therefore not interpret in the “Captagon process”, which begins next week.
Source: Nachrichten
