Christian Pilnacek

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Christian Pilnacek (2016)

Christian Pilnacek (* 1963 in Vienna ) is an Austrian lawyer. He is Section Head of Section IV “Criminal Law” in the Austrian Ministry of Justice .

Professional background

In 1990, Pilnacek became a trainee judge in the district of the Vienna Higher Regional Court and in 1992 a judge at the Inner City District Court of Vienna . He received a service assignment to the Federal Ministry of Justice in Section IV (criminal legislative section). From 1998 to 1999 he was a judge at the Korneuburg Regional Court .

In May 2001 he was appointed senior public prosecutor and deputy head of Section II (General Directorate for the Prison System and the Execution of Custodial Measures) in the Federal Ministry of Justice.

In September 2010, Pilnacek was appointed head of the criminal law section of the Federal Ministry of Justice (Section IV). As the “extended arm” of the Minister of Justice, he controls the local public prosecutor's offices , the four senior public prosecutor's offices and the central public prosecutor's office for prosecuting white-collar crime and corruption . In February 2018, Justice Minister Josef Moser appointed Christian Pilnacek, in addition to his work as head of the criminal law section, as Secretary General of the Federal Ministry for Constitution, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice and thus as the highest official of the Ministry of Justice; this function ended in May 2019 after the federal government short-I .

Alleged abuse of office

In May 2019, several public prosecutors from the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) filed charges against his superior Christian Pilnacek on suspicion of abuse of office or incitement to abuse of office and other superiors from the chain of instructions. In the minutes of a service meeting on April 1, 2019, Christian Pilnacek is said to have called for the Eurofighter procedure to be terminated quickly with more or less clear words .

The Eurofighter case was transferred from the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office to the Corruption Prosecutor's Office in February 2019, as there had been omissions in the previous investigations . Additional staff was required given the complexity of this procedure. After the meeting, the team leader was removed by the Public Prosecutor's Office. The minutes of April 1 should also show that the Eurofighter-Causa had been carried out for years under a legally untenable assumption, whereby suspensions and statutes of limitations are to be expected as a likely consequence.

Pilnacek is said to have said to his staff in the April 1st meeting: “I'll close an eye and we'll stop things” and “Sit down and do it, but you could have done that three years ago. “ He is said to have expressed the wish to discontinue the proceedings more or less directly.

The complaint was sent directly to Justice Minister Josef Moser and was signed by the head of the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office and several leading employees, among others. Justice Minister Moser has announced that he wants to wait for the complaint to be examined and sees no reason for Pilnacek's suspension . SPÖ , Neos and Liste Jetzt, however, locate a judicial and political scandal. The SPÖ accuses the turquoise-blue government of wanting to prevent the disclosure of the Eurofighter corruption case. Peter Pilz from the NOW list demands consequences: “Pilnacek must not have the opportunity to cover up traces now. He must be suspended immediately. "

On June 5, 2019, it became known that the Linz public prosecutor's office in charge of the investigation had refrained from initiating investigative proceedings against Pilnacek for lack of initial suspicion . This was sharply criticized by representatives of the SPÖ, FPÖ, Neos and NOW, the process should be reopened.

On February 4, 2020, it became known that Pilnacek had met the Casino Austria supervisory board members Walter Rothensteiner and Josef Pröll in his office in the Ministry of Justice, although they are listed as suspects in the investigation into the casino affair . Justice Minister Alma Zadić issued an instruction to refrain from meeting with accused in the future, and any appearance of preferential treatment must be avoided.

Publications

  • with Werner Pleischl: The new preliminary proceedings: Guide to the Criminal Procedure Reform Act . Manz, Vienna, 2005, ISBN 3-214-00385-2

Web links

Commons : Christian Pilnacek  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Curriculum Vitae - Christian Pilnacek (PDF)
  2. ↑ Business and personnel allocation (PDF; 267 kB), Federal Ministry of Justice, Republic of Austria, p. 42
  3. ↑ Pilnacek: The Superman Who Wakes Up at Night (Die Presse, August 6, 2011)
  4. ↑ Treason in the Palace of Justice? (Format, December 7, 2012)
  5. ↑ Justice: Pilnacek is General Secretary, no austerity in prison services. In: derStandard.at . February 13, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Lisa Nimmervoll: Chancellor Bierlein has the general secretariats evaluated. In: The Standard. June 4, 2019, accessed June 4, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Sit down together and kill it.
  8. ↑ Corruption prosecutors report to Chief Justice Officer Pilnacek , Der Standard, May 16, 2019, last accessed May 20, 2019.
  9. ↑ Parties criticize the end of the investigation against Pilnacek on orf.at, accessed on June 6, 2019.
  10. ^ Ministry of Justice: Opposition wants consequences for Pilnacek. In: orf.at. February 4, 2020, accessed February 4, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Pilnacek, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian judge, public prosecutor and ministerial official
DATE OF BIRTH 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna