Refugee tragedy near Parndorf

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The refugee tragedy near Parndorf as part of the refugee crisis in Europe from 2015 onwards occurred on August 26, 2015. 71 people from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Iran who wanted to travel to Austria from Hungary in a refrigerated truck were killed . Their bodies were found on August 27, 2015 in the airtight hold of the vehicle that had been parked in a breakdown bay on the A4 Ostautobahn in the Parndorf municipality in Burgenland in Austria.

In June 2017, the research network of WDR, NDR and SZ published information that proves that the Hungarian police tapped the (mobile) telephones of the smugglers during the journey in question and that the death of the refugees could have been prevented if action had been taken quickly. However, the authorities evaluated the discussions too late.

Course of events

According to the State Police Burgenland drove a truck of the type Volvo FL , later, in the dead bodies were found, with its passengers on the morning of August 26 in Hungary east of the capital Budapest going on as data demonstrate from the Hungarian toll system. The refugee transport is said to have started in the Hungarian city of Kecskemét . In the morning around 9 a.m., the vehicle is said to have been near Budapest and then driven to Austria during the day via the Hungarian M1 motorway and the Hegyeshalom / Nickelsdorf border crossing .

The truck - two-axle, with a refrigerated box body and a total weight of 7.5 t hz - was parked in an emergency bay on the A4 east motorway between Neusiedl am See and Parndorf, about one kilometer after the Neusiedl exit in the direction of Vienna. A witness claimed to have seen the vehicle in the emergency bay on the morning of August 26 at around 9:45 a.m., a man had fled from there by car.

On the morning of August 27, 2015, the truck was discovered by an ASFINAG employee while he was mowing, who then alerted the police. The cab was unlocked and empty.

After an initial backup and search for clues, the truck was taken to the former veterinary border service in Nickelsdorf , which has the infrastructure for a provisional investigation center. The number of victims was not clarified until the following night. Initial estimates had assumed between 20 and perhaps 50 victims.

In the course of the next day the bodies were taken to the forensic medicine department in Vienna for an autopsy . The Muslim Community suggested the Islamic Cemetery in Vienna as the burial place for the allegedly often Muslim victims . For victims who would not be identified and whose creed would therefore remain unclear, the Parndorf cemetery was considered.

Victim

71 people were killed in the truck, 59 men, 8 women and 4 children. The four children were a toddler girl and three boys ages eight to ten.

Circumstances of death

Asphyxiation was assumed to be the cause of death of the refugees , and at the time during the last phase of the hot summer of 2015 in the Pannonian region it was up to 35 ° C. Traces indicated that the refugees may have tried to break into the hold from the inside. It was bulged outwards and partly slit. The loading area of ​​the vehicle was 6 m × 2.15 m, i.e. about 13 m². The hold cooling was not active at the time it was found.

Identity of the dead

The police initially suspected that they were refugees from Syria , as a Syrian travel document was found at the site. By setting up a hotline that also worked with interpreters, the police hoped to obtain information about the identity of the dead. A number of cell phones were seized.

On November 26, 2015, the Burgenland state police commander Doskozil reported that 69 of the 71 dead could be identified. There were 29 Iraqis, 21 Afghans, 15 Syrians and 5 Iranians. Two families from Afghanistan were among the dead : a couple with three children and a cousin and a family of three. Most of the victims were able to be transferred to their countries of origin; 15 people were buried in Austria.

The Austrian news magazine profil published the path of one of the victims, an Iraqi Kurd who had set out from Sulaimaniyya to seek treatment and work there in Germany at the end of September 2015 and the Guardian at the beginning of October 2015.

Police investigation

2015

The vehicle, a 7.5-ton refrigerated truck with a Hungarian license plate , bore the label of a Slovak broiler production company. The company announced that it has sold 21 of its refrigerated trucks to seven different buyers in the past , including the murder vehicle. The last buyer of the seized truck was the Hungarian company MasterMobilKer kft. who bought the vehicle from a Slovak owner about a year earlier. He, in turn, had acquired it from the Slovak chicken meat producer Hyza, which belongs to the Agrofert holding.

At a press conference on August 27th in the presence of the Minister of the Interior Johanna Mikl-Leitner , the question was asked, among other things, why the refrigerated truck had not been noticed during the main checks for tug vehicles. Hans Peter Doskozil , the Burgenland state police director in charge of the PK , answered this by stating that such trucks of the size and type “have not yet been classified in the preferred category of vehicles that are used by tugs. Tractors [...] tend to use these small trucks, minibuses, and of course we try to maintain a control density in the area. "Therefore," this vehicle was not primarily recognizable to us [the police] as a tractor vehicle [...] ".

In the press conference on the morning of August 28, the arrest of three suspected smugglers in Hungary was announced: a Bulgarian of Lebanese origin as the vehicle owner , another Bulgarian and an Afghan with a Hungarian identity card as the driver. Another suspect Bulgarian was arrested shortly afterwards. The Bulgarians were 29, 30 and 50 years old, the Afghan 28 years old. The lowest level of a Bulgarian-Hungarian smuggling ring was assumed.

Austria issued a European arrest warrant , which was supposed to enable the quick arrest and extradition, whereby it should be clarified whether crimes had not already been committed in Hungary. The public prosecutor's office in Eisenstadt was initially investigating for smuggling , deliberate endangering of the community with fatal consequences and suspected murder . Another two suspected smugglers had been arrested in Hungary by Sunday 30 August.

2017

The Hungarian police reported the result of their inquiries in April 2017. She accused nine suspected men of smuggling and four of them manslaughter. One Afghan and seven Bulgarians were in custody at the time, and another Bulgarian was still being sought. According to the investigation, the 71 victims from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan had suffocated in the airtight hold on the Hungarian side on the journey from Kecskemét in southern Hungary to Austria. The tractor organization had several trucks in operation, replacement drivers to steer the truck and, as in the specific case, used several (two to three) vehicles ahead to warn of police checks. According to the investigators, around 1,000 people were smuggled in sales of 15.5 million euros , most of which, according to Europol, went to Afghanistan. The public prosecutor's office now had 30 (to 60) days to evaluate the evidence.

In June, the research network NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung published information that showed that the Hungarian police had tapped the smugglers' phones and could have prevented the deaths of the refugees. However, she evaluated the conversations too late.

Trial and conviction

The Bács-Kiskun County Public Prosecutor's Office in Kecskemét was responsible for the prosecution because the truck was rented there. On May 4, 2017, she announced that eleven men from Afghanistan, Bulgaria and Lebanon were being charged with smuggling as part of a criminal organization, nine of whom were in custody at the time, and two were to be charged in absentia. Four main suspects - one Afghan and three Bulgarians - who were directly involved in the actual trip, should also be charged with murder. The Hungarian police completed the inquiries in early April and recommended the prosecution to prosecute. The smuggler organization is said to have smuggled around 1,200 refugees into the West, and the 30-year-old Afghan leader is said to have earned at least 300,000 euros.

The trial of the eleven alleged smugglers began on June 21, 2017 in Kecskemét. The public prosecutor's office accused them of “particular cruelty” because they reportedly noticed that the refugees were suffocating in the airtight hold. Further negotiation days were scheduled for June 22nd, 23rd, 29th and 30th, after which negotiations should continue several times a month. On June 14, 2018, the first instance judgments were made against the eleven defendants and three others, against whom the trial was absent: The four main offenders were sentenced to prison terms of 25 years each, some of which they were supposed to serve under more stringent conditions. The remaining ten were sentenced to prison terms of between three and twelve years. Both the public prosecutor, who had demanded life sentences for the main perpetrators, and the defense lawyers immediately appealed the verdicts. On June 20, 2019, the table court in Szeged increased the sentences of the four main offenders to life for murder under particularly cruel circumstances. The court ruled out early release for three of the main defendants, and the fourth was given the option of release after 30 years in prison.

Reactions

The Austrian Federal President Heinz Fischer called for a minute's silence in the course of the Western Balkans Conference , which was taking place in Vienna at the same time and which dealt with the 2015 refugee crisis in Europe on the Balkan route .

Pope Francis addressed the refugee tragedy near Parndorf in a short address after the Angelus prayer on August 30, 2015. “Let us pray for God's mercy and ask him to help us work together effectively against these crimes against the entire family of mankind. Let us pray for all refugees who are suffering and for all who have lost their lives. "

A commemorative mass read by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn took place in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna on August 31 . Numerous church bells rang out with the Pummerin in Eastern Austria.

Also on August 31st, a demonstration took place in Vienna with around 20,000 participants under the motto Being Human in Austria . It was organized by a private person using web-based networks and supported by some NGOs. The final rally took place in front of the parliament building.

On the evening of the same day, several hundred people met in the Upper Austrian cities of Linz 2,500 and Steyr for rallies, at the main square Wels 900 for a commemoration around 71 black platforms with grave lights. Vigils were spontaneously organized in Vienna, Eisenstadt and Budapest .

Some actors in the refugee issue pointed out that similar tragic incidents on the Mediterranean route had been almost the norm for years. It is frightening that such events would have to reach Central Europe in order to bring the humanitarian catastrophe in the EU refugee crisis back into the media attention.

In Innsbruck , the Young Greens erected a memorial with 71 pairs of shoes on the 13 square meters of floor space corresponding to the loading area of ​​the truck. The European Peace University decided to erect a memorial in front of the study center in Stadtschlaining .

In Bochum , the freight forwarder Graf and the theater there drew attention to the refugee suffering. A 7.5-ton truck of a similar design was set up in front of the theater building and the tailgate was opened on the box body. 71 citizens climbed over this loading platform onto the 15-square-meter loading area, stood huddled together for several minutes and stared at the open air. The lead dramaturge, Olaf Kröck, pointed out that "so many people in such suffering have to spend thousands of euros and go unsafe ways, while it is so much easier and safer for us Europeans to travel in the other direction."

Criticism of image publications

The Kronen Zeitung published a photo of the decomposed bodies on August 28, 2015. It was heavily criticized for this, and the Austrian Press Council received numerous complaints. Compared to the daily newspaper Der Standard , multimedia editor-in-chief Richard Schmitt defended the publication of the photo, which shows "the drama of the agony of men and women in the hold without oxygen". The decision to publish was "a joint decision of the chief editor".

The Bild-Zeitung published the same picture under the title The Photo of Shame , on the grounds that it was “only such shocking, historical photos” that “can finally shake politics and the public”.

The photo was allegedly from police circles. The authorities investigated a total of 17 police officers. However, the surveys were discontinued in December 2016 by the Eisenstadt public prosecutor's office without any clarification.

Numerous photos of the vehicle that onlookers had taken at the site appeared on social networks.

reception

The scene of the crime "In the promised land" , which was first broadcast in 2016 and in the act of which 23 people suffocate in a truck organized by smugglers and smugglers , was created in 2014.

theatre

The author and director Peter Wagner staged the play "71 or The Curse of the Prime" from texts by 21 Burgenland authors and interviews with those involved. The play is a co-production of the Burgenland theater initiative with the Oberwart Open House and the Parndorf community . The world premiere took place on January 4th, 2017 in Parndorf, and the production is currently touring through Burgenland and Austria.

book

The author Carlos Peter Reinelt was honored for his processing of the tragedy in his book Welcome and Farewell to the Rauriser Literature Days 2016.

In his poem Freiheit Nord , published in the volume of poetry Brandseelaute , the writer Robert Kleindienst refers to the Parndorf refugee tragedy.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b tagesschau.de: Refugees suffocated in trucks: An avoidable catastrophe? Retrieved on November 10, 2018 (German).
  2. ↑ a b c Austria: smugglers arrested according to media report. In: sueddeutsche.de . August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  3. ^ Refugee tragedy in Austria - the exact number of deaths remains unclear. In: deutschlandfunk.de. August 27, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Tractor truck started in Kecskemet burgenland.orf.at , August 29, 2015, accessed August 29, 2015.
  5. ↑ a b refugee drama on A4 - company sold trucks last year. In: tt.com. August 27, 2015, accessed August 28, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Handlebar claims to have seen A4 tractor. In: orf.at. August 30, 2015, accessed August 31, 2015 .
  7. ↑ a b Wzonline / apa, Red: Refugee tragedy on the Ostautobahn: up to 50 dead found in refrigerated trucks. In: wienerzeitung.at. August 27, 2015, accessed August 28, 2015 .
  8. ↑ a b Several dead refugees found on A4 in Austria. In: sueddeutsche.de . August 27, 2015, accessed August 28, 2015 .
  9. ↑ Burgenland: More than 70 dead recovered from trucks. In: kurier.at. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  10. ↑ a b c Over 70 dead refugees in Burgenland: Mikl-Leitner wants contact points at the EU border : corpses recovery in Nickelsdorf. and refrigerated trucks "unusual tractor vehicle". In: der Standard online, August 28, 2015 - for the press conference, State Police Director Hans Peter Doskozil and Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner August 27, with video.
  11. ↑ “ Worked all night” . ORF.at, August 28, 2015.
  12. ↑ a b c d Four suspects arrested. In: ORF.at. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  13. ^ A4 tragedy: Search for a grave. In: burgenland.orf.at. September 1, 2015, accessed October 3, 2015 .
  14. ↑ WM Online, Apa: Four children among the 71 dead in Parndorf. In: wienerzeitung.at. August 28, 2015, accessed October 3, 2015 .
  15. ↑ ulz: Details on the case in Austria: Children also died in the refugee truck. In: Spiegel Online . August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  16. ↑ More than 70 dead rescued from tractor trucks. In: news.ORF.at. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  17. ↑ Refugee drama : Nobody identified yet. In: burgenland.orf.at. August 30, 2015, accessed September 1, 2015 .
  18. ↑ Tragedy at Parndorf: The belongings of 71 dead. In: kurier.at. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015 .
  19. ↑ a b 71 bodies recovered from trucks - three arrests. In: welt.de . August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  20. ↑ 71 refugees died in the tractor truck. In: Burgenland.ORF.at. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  21. ↑ Refugee tragedy: identification difficult. In: Wien.ORF.at. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  22. ^ Refugee drama : autopsy takes days. In: Burgenland.ORF.at. August 29, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015 .
  23. ^ A4-Drama: 69 dead identified on ORF-Burgenland from November 26th, accessed on November 26th.
  24. ↑ Smuggler Tragedy: The Last Days of Two Syrian Kurds | PROFIL.at. September 22, 2015, accessed August 16, 2016 .
  25. ↑ Fazel Hawramy: "Migrant truck deaths: the untold story of one man's desperate voyage to Europe" The Guardian, October 7, 2015, viewed October 7, 2015
  26. ↑ Boris Kálnoky, Budapest: Who owns the tractor truck? In: welt.de . August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  27. ↑ Who owns the tractor truck? In: nzz.at, August 27, 2015, accessed on August 29, 2015.
  28. ↑ Original sound from the press conference on August 27, 2015, broadcast live in ZIB  Spezial at 6:00 p.m.
  29. ↑ 71 dead refugees in refrigerated trucks: four suspects arrested in Hungary. In: derstandard.at . August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  30. ↑ Police: three people smugglers arrested. In: ORF.at. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  31. ^ Refugee tragedy in Austria: Hungarian court takes suspected smugglers into custody. In: Spiegel Online . August 29, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015 .
  32. ↑ a b c Bernhard Odehnal, Vienna: Police chasing Bulgarian-Hungarian smugglers. In: welt.de . August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015 .
  33. ↑ Refugee drama : Nobody identified yet. In: burgenland.orf.at. August 30, 2015, accessed August 31, 2015 .
  34. ↑ A4-Drama: Investigations completed orf.at, April 7, 2017, accessed April 8, 2017.
  35. ↑ Life imprisonment for smugglers. In: tagesschau.de . June 20, 2019, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  36. ↑ a b "Hungary: Trial of the refugee tragedy - death truck from Parndorf - SPIEGEL ONLINE". Accessed June 22, 2017. http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/prozessauftakt-zur-fluechtlingstragoedie-der-todes-lkw-von-parndorf-a-1153235.html .
  37. ↑ Refugee drama on A4: Eleven charges of murder orf.at, May 4, 2017.
  38. ↑ Detention partly under more severe conditions. ORF.at , June 14, 2018, accessed on the same day.
  39. ^ Gregor Mayer: Lifelong imprisonment for a death drive with refugees on A4 In: derstandard.at . June 20, 2019, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  40. ↑ Dead refugees in trucks: Lifelong for the main defendants. In: orf.at . June 20, 2019, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  41. ↑ Victim probably dead for days. In: ORF.at. August 27, 2015, accessed August 28, 2015 .
  42. ↑ The statutes of man and the true law of God. In: kath.net. August 30, 2015, accessed August 30, 2015 .
  43. ↑ Pope prays for the deceased refugees in Austria. In: www.radiovaticana.va. August 30, 2015, accessed August 30, 2015 .
  44. ^ Memorial service on Monday on ORF-Burgenland from August 27, 2015, accessed on August 30, 2015.
  45. ↑ Stephansdom: Government almost completely at memorial service
  46. ↑ 20,000 people at the refugee demonstration on ORF on August 31, 2015, accessed on August 31, 2015.
  47. ↑ Being human in Austria. 20,000 at the demo in Vienna Kleine Zeitung, August 31, 2015.
  48. ↑ Memorial after the refugee drama on ORF-Tirol from September 1, 2015, accessed on September 1, 2015.
  49. ^ Memorial for dead refugees. In: Burgenland.ORF.at. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  50. ↑ Deutsches Theater recreates the fatal transport of refugees. In: orf.at. September 2, 2015, accessed October 3, 2015 .
  51. ↑ Apa: Strong criticism after the "Krone" photo of the dead. In: salzburg.com. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  52. ↑ nachrichten.at/apa: Refugee drama: 71 dead, including four children. In: nachrichten.at. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  53. ↑ "Kronen Zeitung" puts its readers in shock
  54. ↑ Apa / log: refugee drama: corpse photo of the "crown" now case for the public prosecutor. In : wirtschaftsblatt.at. August 29, 2015, archived from the original on August 30, 2015 ; accessed on August 29, 2015 .
  55. ↑ "Krone" photo with dead refugees "inexcusable". In: derstandard.at . August 29, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015 .
  56. ↑ The photo of shame: 71 refugees suffocated in the truck. In: bild.de. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015 .
  57. ↑ "crown" photo of dead refugees office is investigating. In: orf.at. August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015 .
  58. ^ "Photo of death" in "Krone": Follow-up for officials on ORF Burgenland from August 30, 2015, accessed on August 30, 2015.
  59. ↑ Photo from A4-Drama: Investigation discontinued orf.at, December 17, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017.
  60. ↑ Birgit Schaller: Numerous dead refugees in tractor vehicles on the A4. In: Vorarlberg Online, vol.at. August 27, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015 .
  61. ^ Author Christian Jeltsch about his film on swr.de from April 1, 2016, accessed on May 25, 2020.
  62. ^ Refugee tragedy in the refrigerator truck: play as a memorial. In: www.kleinezeitung.at. Retrieved December 28, 2016 .
  63. ↑ Sponsorship Award 2016 | Rauris Literature Days. In: www.rauriser-literaturtage.at. Retrieved August 22, 2016 .
  64. ↑ Kleindienst, Robert: Brandseelaute: Gedichte . 1st edition. edition laurin, Innsbruck 2017, ISBN 978-3-902866-49-3 ( editionlaurin.at [accessed on August 21, 2019]).

Coordinates: 47 ° 59 ′ 39.4 "  N , 16 ° 49 ′ 56.8"  E