Former Mayor Luger Charged with Breach of Trust – Linz Trial Adjourned
Former Linz mayor Klaus Luger must answer charges of breach of trust before the Linz Regional Court. He denies guilt. The trial has been postponed indefinitely.
Former Mayor Luger Charged with Breach of Trust – Linz Trial Adjourned
Former Linz mayor Klaus Luger appeared on Friday before the Linz Regional Court on suspicion of breach of trust. The indictment accuses him of having provided hearing questions in advance to a candidate in 2017 during the selection of an artistic director for the events company LIVA.
Luger admitted in court that the legal opinion he had commissioned was a serious mistake. However, he denied having committed breach of trust. The former politician stated that he had obtained the expertise on the advice of a lawyer after a whistleblower report about the disclosure of the documents had been received.
During the hearing, it became clear that the law firm that prepared the opinion did not know that Luger himself was the source of the leak. The first draft of the 17-page document was presented by 22 January 2024. According to lawyer Thomas Moser, the opinion was intended to clarify whether the preferred candidate Dietmar Kerschbaum could face criminal charges – but not whether the then-mayor himself was liable.
The judge criticised that 15 of the 17 pages contained criminal law discussions without Luger questioning this. The defendant countered that he had not commissioned the contents himself.
Since crucial witness statements from the legal experts who prepared the opinion and presented it to the LIVA supervisory board were absent, the judge adjourned the trial indefinitely.
Source: Kurier