Ibiza affair

Heinz-Christian Strache (2017)

Johann Gudenus (2012)

The Ibiza affair , also known as the Strache affair or Ibiza gate , is a political scandal in Austria that led to the break of the governing coalition made up of the ÖVP and FPÖ in May 2019 . The trigger of the affair was the publication of a video in which Heinz-Christian Strache , until then Vice Chancellor in the Federal Government Kurz I and federal party chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), as well as Johann Gudenus , until thenMember of the National Council and executive FPÖ club chairman , can be seen. The recordings, made secretly in July 2017, a few months before the National Council election , document a meeting of the two politicians with an alleged niece of a Russian oligarch in a villa on the Spanish island of Ibiza . Both showed their willingness to corrupt , circumvent the laws on party financing and covertly take control of non-party media .

On May 17, 2019, the German online media Süddeutsche.de and Spiegel Online published excerpts from the video recording. The scandal quickly attracted national and international attention. The following day, Strache and Gudenus first announced their resignation from all political offices and party functions. In the evening, Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced the end of the coalition after consulting Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen .

A key element in this was Chancellor Kurz's request to the FPÖ to replace Interior Minister Herbert Kickl (FPÖ) for the continuation of the coalition . This was rejected by the other FPÖ ministers, who resigned after Kickl's dismissal by the Federal President.

On May 28, the members of the Federal Government Kurz I were removed from their offices by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen after the National Council had expressed its distrust of the government the day before. Subsequently, the Federal President entrusted the former Vice Chancellor Hartwig Löger (ÖVP) with the continued administration of the Federal Chancellery and with the chairmanship of the provisional federal government. On May 30, Brigitte Bierlein was designated as Federal Chancellor and charged with the formation of a transitional government ( government officials ) for the period until a new government was formed.

On September 29, 2019, took place early parliamentary elections . The ÖVP made significant gains, the FPÖ and SPÖ suffered significant losses. The Greens , who resigned in 2017 , returned to the National Council and, together with the ÖVP, formed the Short II Cabinet .

trigger

The affair was triggered by excerpts from video material of unknown origin published on May 17, 2019, at 6 p.m. sharp , which was secretly recorded on July 24, 2017 on the Spanish island of Ibiza . You can see and hear the two politicians Heinz-Christian Strache , Federal Party Chairman of the FPÖ from 2005 and Member of the National Council from 2006, and Johann Gudenus , then non-executive Vice Mayor of Vienna , and his wife Tajana Gudenus; on the other hand, a woman who called herself Aljona Makarova and posed as the niece of the Russian oil and gas entrepreneur Igor Makarow , and her companion. The woman stated that she had a Latvian passport in addition to the Russian one and could therefore invest in the EU . The recordings from different perspectives with a total length of over 20 hours were made in a villa on Ibiza that was rented by strangers from July 22nd to 25th, 2017.

Content of the video

In the video clips known so far, Strache and Gudenus talk to the other two people about possible major investments by the supposed Russian woman in Austria, possible donations to the Freedom Party and possible counter-deals for such investments and donations. She herself claims to be able to provide several hundred million euros of her assets for such investments.

Editorial building of the Kronen Zeitung

In the video, Strache speaks of a possible takeover of the Kronen Zeitung , the largest daily newspaper in Austria, by the "Russian woman" - a central issue that Strache keeps coming back to throughout the evening. In this case you have to "speak very openly". Strache indicates indirect influence on the reporting by wanting to "push three or four people [...]" and "ditch three, four people [...]" as well as "build up another five new ones". Strache also states that if the Kronen Zeitung would suddenly “push” the Freedom Party “two or three weeks before the election”, a 34 percent share of the vote would be possible in the National Council election. He also suggests that the woman could donate to a non-profit association to support the Freedom Party, since this way, even with larger sums of money, a report to the Court of Auditors and the laws on party financing could be circumvented - Strache does not name the association, but speaks specifically by a non-profit association with the "Statute: 'Make Austria more economical'" and "with three lawyers on the board". Strache states that several Austrian entrepreneurs - including Gaston Glock , Heidi Horten and René Benko (who has held 24.5% in Kronen Zeitung since November 2018 ) - as well as the Novomatic company already have amounts ranging from half a million to one million euros donated to this association. According to Strache, there are investors behind the FPÖ who do not want “Austria to be Islamized , that their children and grandchildren will perish”. All those addressed deny donations to the FPÖ or to associations that are close to it.

In return, Strache promises the Russian "all orders that Haselsteiner now receives", provided that she would found a construction company "like Strabag ". He provides the opportunity to privatize a sewer of the ORF and to privatize the public water supply down to a blocking minority of the state share, so that “the one who operates it also has an income”. In general, he states that if the FPÖ wins the election you can "talk about anything".

Strache, who describes himself as “Red Bull Brother from Austria” in the video, also says that everything must always be in line with the law and legal and correspond to the program of the Freedom Party. In the video there are statements about the gambling monopoly, the Austrian relations with the Visegrád Group and the Russian government or the Russian President Vladimir Putin , a possible economic crisis, the entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz, who "[...] does not [understand] the business", resp whose company Red Bull . In the largest, unpublished part of the video, Strache makes discrediting allegations about Sebastian Kurz ( ÖVP ), who was foreign minister at the time in 2017 , and about Christian Kern , the then Federal Chancellor and SPÖ party chairman.

Strache also speaks in the video of making use of compromising material about political competition and "playing it abroad", then "the other side would believe it was the other", and those involved would, according to Straches Hope to rub each other out with revelations (“We have to do the trick of making one side visible so that the other can strike”). He describes journalists as "the greatest whores on this planet" and the West as decadent , while people in the East are still "normal".

Johann Gudenus, who partly studied in Russia and has a good knowledge of Russian, temporarily took on the role of interpreter between Strache and the supposed Russian woman in the conversation .

Publication of the video

On May 17, 2019 at 6 p.m., the German news magazine Der Spiegel and the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) simultaneously published six-minute excerpts of the Ibiza video in their online media, the authenticity of which was reported by reporters from the media involved, the Munich forensic scientist George A. Rauscher and was checked in the comparison by the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology . The Viennese weekly newspaper Falter was also allowed to view the video and publish excerpts made available by the SZ with a delay. Journalists Leila Al-Serori , Oliver Das Gupta , Peter Münch , Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer were involved in the publication of the video for the SZ, and Maik Baumgärtner, Vera Deleja-Hotko, Martin Knobbe, Walter Mayr, Alexandra Rojkov and Wolf for Spiegel Wiedmann-Schmidt . Passages with allegations about the private life of Austrian politicians, the content of which Strache described in his declaration of resignation as mere "unchecked dirty rumors", were not published.

According to a comment by Deutschlandfunk in the Federal Republic of Germany, the publication itself was covered by the so-called “ Wallraff judgment” of the Federal Constitutional Court . At the end of May 2019, Strache filed a complaint against the journalists involved, alleging violations of Section 201 and Section 201a of the Criminal Code . The public prosecutor's office in Munich I stated in November 2019 after an examination “that the accused had not committed a criminal offense”. Similarly, the Hamburg public prosecutor's office had already justified the termination of the investigations against the Spiegel journalists in July 2019 .

The journalists from Süddeutscher Zeitung and Spiegel had agreed to speak to the alleged oligarch niece personally before a possible publication, which then took place "somewhere in Europe" at the beginning of May 2019. The courier commented on the conversation as interesting because only the makers of the video could know what the real name of the "rich Russian" is and where she lives.

According to their own information, Süddeutsche and Spiegel did not pay for the video. However, Die Welt commented in early 2021 that evidence suggested that a third group from Germany had paid to send the material to the two media houses.

Origin of the recording

In January 2017, a real estate agent and acquaintance of Tajana Gudenus approached her, saying that she knew about a wealthy Russian woman who was interested in real estate belonging to the Gudenus family in the Kremstal . On March 24, 2017, Johann Gudenus was introduced to the supposed niece of the oligarch, Aljona Makarowa , by a Viennese lawyer in a Viennese restaurant . Also present were Gudenus' wife, one of his brothers, the broker and the companion of the decoy , a detective and acquaintance of the lawyer. The lawyer has - to Gudenus - confirmed the identity of the alleged Latvian citizen and her solvency.

In mid-April 2019, the German satirist Jan Böhmermann made hints of the content of the video in his video-transmitted acceptance speech for the 2019 Romy Awards , which at the time was seen as satirically exaggerated formulations (such as that he was "just coked up and Red Bull - fueled with a few FPÖ business friends hanging out in a Russian oligarch villa in Ibiza "and" negotiating the takeover of the Kronen-Zeitung "). On the day before the publication, he said: “It may be that Austria burns tomorrow.” His manager and the Süddeutsche Zeitung confirmed that Böhmermann knew the recordings weeks ago. However, the ZDF announced that Böhmermann's participation in the creation could be ruled out.

Suspicions as to what the Center for Political Beauty might be behind the video were denied by the group's "escalation officer", Stefan Pelzer, according to journalist Susanne Schnabl .

Both von Strache and von Kurz mentioned the political advisor Tal Silberstein several times in this context. Silberstein categorically denied that he had nothing to do with the Ibiza scandal and that the attempt to link him to the video in question was only intended to distract the public from the actual scandal. Subsequently, the Austrian writer and historian Doron Rabinovici accused Federal Chancellor Kurz of playing a “completely irresponsible game” with anti-Semitic stereotypes, and recalled Kurz's slogan in 2017 that the National Council election was a “referendum on whether we want the Silbersteins in Austria ”.

With reference to the source protection , the media involved did not provide any information on the question of who passed the recording to them. Bastian Obermayer from the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the handover of the video took place in an "adventurous" way in an abandoned hotel.

The Viennese lawyer Richard Soyer confirmed that a Viennese lawyer had commissioned the video. Any identifying reporting is not permitted.

More records

After initially only the video from Ibiza became known, Spiegel and SZ published articles on May 19, 2019, in which they discussed other audio recordings that had been leaked to them. These prove that the contact between Strache and Gudenus as well as the alleged Russian oligarch niece and her companion, unlike the politicians said after the video became known, also existed before and after the meeting in Ibiza. Among other things, at a meeting with Gudenus at the end of August or beginning of September 2017, the contact person demanded a “gesture of goodwill” in the form of a press release from the FPÖ in which the entrepreneur Hans-Peter Haselsteiner was attacked. A press release with such content was sent by the FPÖ Vienna with the sender Anton Mahdalik on September 4th via the APA and ends with the abbreviation “wer / zah / lts / chaf / ft / an” (“Who pays, creates” means that the financier also determines).

Political Consequences

Government crisis

Demonstration on Vienna's Ballhausplatz on May 18, at which the resignation of the ÖVP-FPÖ coalition government was demanded after the affair became known

On Saturday, May 18, 2019, Strache and Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had a discussion in the morning at the Federal Chancellery . Thereupon Strache announced his resignation as Vice Chancellor, Federal Minister and FPÖ Federal and State Party Chairman via a press conference at 12 noon. In an eleven-minute statement, he attacked the perpetrators of the deception. He spoke of a rubbish bin campaign , called the video a “targeted political assassination” and announced criminal investigations. He described the meeting at which he had been under the influence of alcohol (quote: "[...] yes, it was an open story [...]") as a mistake and apologized to his wife and the Federal Chancellor.

→ Main article : National Council election in Austria 2019

According to a report by the Tiroler Tageszeitung , the ÖVP initially considered continuing the coalition with the FPÖ, but demanded that Herbert Kickl resign as a condition, which the latter refused. At around 7:52 p.m., Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz spoke up for the first time and stated in a request to speak that Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen had proposed new elections. He criticized the secret video recording as "despicable", but the content speaks for itself. He characterized Strache's statements as "ideas of abuse of power". Kurz wanted the ÖVP to be able to “clearly set the tone” after the election and a government without “individual incidents, incidents and other scandals”. He was alluding to a number of controversies about controversial or right-wing extremist statements and actions by FPÖ representatives during the reign, which he had not commented on until then or for which he had always been satisfied with the statements made by the FPÖ. Regarding the participation of the FPÖ in the FPÖ-ÖVP coalition led by him, he now said that the FPÖ was not capable of governing (“The FPÖ cannot do it”), and announced new elections at the earliest possible point in time. After the announcement of Kurz, representatives of the FPÖ claimed that he had requested the replacement of Interior Minister Herbert Kickl from the new FPÖ federal party leader Norbert Hofer as a condition for the continuation of the coalition , which was rejected.

Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen made a statement at 8:36 p.m. and stated that Austria's reputation had been damaged. In his opinion, a "rebuilding of trust" in the federal government is needed and he will ensure stable conditions until a new government is sworn in.

Sebastian Kurz (2016)

On May 19, Chancellery Minister Gernot Blümel announced that he expected Kurz to propose to the Federal President that the Minister of the Interior be recalled. In this case, the FPÖ announced the resignation of all members of its government. On May 20, 2019 Interior Minister Kickl appointed Peter Goldgruber the director general for public security , but President Van der Bellen announced not to sign the certificate of appointment. He justified his decision by stating that the following federal government “should not be prejudiced in personnel matters” and that such an appointment to state political positions in transitional periods is generally unusual in Austria. On the same day, Kurz asked Van der Bellen to have Kickl released. Kurz stated that a complete clarification of the incidents was not possible in his eyes with Kickl as Minister of the Interior, as he was General Secretary of the FPÖ at the time the video was made and therefore also responsible for the party's finances. The FPÖ then implemented its announcement from the previous day and declared that all of its ministers would leave the government.

On May 22, 2019, the vacant ministerial posts were filled with four experts selected for the respective department, who are to lead the official business until the scheduled new elections.

On May 27, 2019, the majority of the National Council voted in favor of distrust of the entire federal government, a process that was the first in the Republic of Austria. The motion of no confidence was introduced by the SPÖ and accepted in the vote with the votes of the SPÖ, FPÖ and Liste Jetzt. ÖVP and NEOS voted against.

Consequences for state and city governments

On Sunday, May 19, Governor Hans Peter Doskozil announced that due to the affair the coalition between SPÖ and FPÖ in Burgenland would be prematurely terminated and that there would be early state elections there on January 26, 2020. Originally, the election should have taken place in May 2020. In the election , the SPÖ achieved an absolute majority. The FPÖ left the state government.

The Mayor of Linz , Klaus Luger (SPÖ), recognized the video as a “moral image of a party” and questioned the labor agreement with the FPÖ, which was then terminated.

In Upper Austria , Regional Councilor Elmar Podgorschek (FPÖ) announced his resignation to the Stelzer regional government on May 20, 2019. This was a condition of Governor Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP) in order to continue the cooperation with the FPÖ within the framework of a labor agreement.

Consequences within the FPÖ

Johann Gudenus also announced his resignation from all functions in the party and National Council club at midday on May 18, 2019 via APA broadcast : “I would like to express my deepest regret over the events two years ago. I also deeply regret that my behavior disappointed the trust placed in me by voters, officials and employees. ”On May 19, 2019, he resigned from the FPÖ after his further contacts with the alleged oligarch became known. On May 21, Gudenus said he feared "further material showing me in compromising situations". That too was a reason for his complete political withdrawal. Specifically, these statements by Gudenus are about the last (unpublished) 60 minutes of the seven-hour video material. At the time the video was recorded, he was close to a personal crisis and burnout and had been consuming “ psychotropic substances ”. In an interview with the Russia-related broadcaster RT Deutsch at the beginning of August 2019, Strache denied that he or others had used drugs at the meeting in Ibiza, that he himself had “had nothing to do with illegal drugs during a lifetime”. Both Gudenus (who spoke of the report of a "private forensic institute", which he did not want to send) and Strache ("That’s not me.") And his wife, however, expressed suspicions that they had been given K.- at the meeting . o.-drops or toxic substances administered, which could explain their appearance. In September 2019, the head of the Institute for Forensic Medicine at the Berlin Charité , Michael Tsokos , and the head of the Charité forensic toxicology department , Sven Hartwig, contradicted this . After examining the Ibiza video, they came to the conclusion that there were no visible signs of knockout drugs being administered. In gestures and conversational behavior or choice of words - even when discussing complex issues - Strache and Gudenus did not observe any failure symptoms for several hours. Otherwise “increasing fatigue through to drowsiness, sleepiness, clouded consciousness” or even “comatose states” would have to be expected in the near future.

A return of Strache to party offices was announced by Harald Vilimsky on May 19. Strache himself wrote on Facebook on May 21, 2019 that he wanted to find the “backers” of the video and that he would “prove his innocence”. On May 24, 2019, Strache described his statements in the video on Facebook as "mind games that were stupid and would be unacceptable, especially on the political stage," but added: "No politician is alien to thought games in which he ponders ways and means, to realize the political goals of his party, to increase media popularity and to win allies in business. "

As successor to Heinz-Christian Strache as a federal party leader was Norbert Hofer designated, as successor as Vienna State party chairman was Dominik rip nominated. SZ author Peter Münch assessed the FPÖ slogan “ Now even more ”, which the party issued as the motto at its closing rally for the European election campaign on May 24, 2019 , as evidence of a “ conspiracy and victim myth” with which the party responded to the Affair respond.

In November 2019, phone calls became known that Strache had made in the days before the unveiling of Ibiza after he had been confronted by the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Spiegel with his statements in the video. Strache then phoned real estate investor René Benko and the arms industrialist wife Kathrin Glock, as evidenced by a call-back recording of "Soko Ibiza".

Dissatisfied with the way the FPÖ had dealt with Strache, the three Viennese municipal and state council members Karl Baron , Dietrich Kops and Klaus Handler resigned from the FPÖ and founded a new party called The Alliance for Austria (DAÖ). The former federal manager of the FPÖ, Gernot Rumpold , acted as press spokesman for the founding of the party .

Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry

In January 2020, a parliamentary committee of inquiry was set up on the alleged buyability of the turquoise-blue federal government (Ibiza committee of inquiry). Chairman of the National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka , of the 13 members were five MPs from the ÖVP, three from the SPÖ, two each from the FPÖ and the Greens and one MP from NEOS.

Wolfgang Gerstl became the head of the delegation for the People's Party, and Klaus Fürlinger , Martina Kaufmann , Ernst Gödl and Friedrich Ofenauer became members . The SPÖ delegation sent Kai Jan Krainer , Eva Maria Holzleitner and Christoph Matznetter , the FPÖ Christian Hafenecker and Susanne Fürst . Nina Tomaselli and David Stögmüller were sent for the Greens , NEOS sent Stephanie Krisper .

The procedural judge was Ilse Huber , formerly Vice-President of the Supreme Court , and the former Vice-President of the Higher Regional Court of Vienna , Wolfgang Pöschl , became the deputy judge . Andreas Joklik became a procedural attorney, and Barbara Weiß , a judge at the Federal Administrative Court , was his deputy .

The committee of inquiry began its work on June 4, 2020. The first witness questioned by the committee was the Austrian journalist Florian Klenk , who was the only Austrian journalist in the editorial office of the Süddeutsche Zeitung to see the full video (see section here ) before the publication of excerpts in May 2019. He summarized the content of the video, which the committee members were not yet aware of in full at the time, and supported the corruption allegations against Strache. The former FPÖ boss emphasizes his compliance with the law in the video, but suggests illegal agreements. Then Heinz-Christian Strache was interviewed himself. He testified that on the evening in question in Ibiza he merely "explained rumors" about how other parties are financed. The passages of the video known to the public were "taken out of context". He gave no answers to some questions with reference to ongoing investigations. The subsequent questioning of Johann Gudenus was similar.

At the end of June 2020, Ilse Huber resigned from her position as procedural judge.

On December 4, 2020, the Austrian Constitutional Court (VfGH) announced that the Ministry of Justice had to make all the material from the Ibiza video available to the parliamentary committee of inquiry. Justice Minister Alma Zadić (Greens) welcomed the legal clarification. Two weeks later, the entire video was sent to the committee of inquiry.

On March 3, 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled that Finance Minister Gernot Blümel had to submit all the requested files to the investigative committee within two weeks. Nevertheless, the Federal Ministry of Finance continued to refuse the e-mail inboxes of the head of investment management in the Ministry of Finance as well as the correspondence of Ministry employees with the current ÖBAG boss Thomas Schmid , then Secretary General in the Ministry of Finance and other employees of the then Finance Minister Hartwig Löger (ÖVP) to transfer. As a result, members of the SPÖ, FPÖ and Neos announced that they would apply “to the Federal President for execution against the Federal Minister of Finance”. By decision of May 5, 2021, the Austrian Constitutional Court applied to Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen to execute one of its decisions ( federal execution ). Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (ÖVP) is now obliged by sovereign coercion (e.g. with the police or the armed forces) to submit certain e-mails and files to the “Ibiza” U-Committee. According to the Austrian Federal President, such a process has never happened before.

As it became known on May 12, the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) started investigations against Chancellor Kurz and his head of cabinet Bernhard Bonelli , who both suspected of false statements on questions about the appointment of the supervisory board of Österreichische Beteiligungs AG (ÖBAG) before the investigative committee become.

Legal consequences

Jurists disagree as to whether Strache's statements in particular are criminally relevant. The political scientist Hubert Sickinger considers the described form of covert party financing to be "a serious violation of the party law". The parties are strictly prohibited from accepting disguised donations. However, the law on political parties does not provide for any criminal consequences, which is why it is also questionable whether accounts can be opened at all.

civil right

Former Chancellor Christian Kern announced that he would bring charges of defamation and insult to his person by Strache. The lawyers of the two ex-politicians are working on a settlement . Strache should donate to a charitable institution.

At the end of May 2019, the main suspect received an injunction from the Berlin Regional Court , according to which the Austrian online portal oe24.tv is no longer allowed to show his photo. Among other things, the court argued that he could be endangered by "political fanatics"; and even if he is behind the video, his activity is covered by the fundamental right to freedom of expression, taking into account the protection of sources, because the video is "of the highest public interest ". Because of the article "Ramin and the detectives" in the time , he also obtained an injunction, later also against Die Welt . For the time being, the media are not allowed to report on his past life. The court did not complain that the parties involved were suspected of having committed a criminal offense in the production of the video.

At the end of June, the SPÖ obtained a preliminary injunction against Kurz in court because he had repeatedly alleged that it was suspicious of having organized and / or commissioned the Ibiza video "by or with Tal Silberstein ". Since Kurz was unable to provide any evidence for these suspicions, he was prohibited by a court from continuing to disseminate them publicly.

In August, Gudenus sued the lawyer under civil law for the release of the video, the failure to redistribute it and the announcement of the profit. At the beginning of September, the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Law Matters issued an injunction that prohibited the lawyer from publishing the video or parts of it. The lawyer was to be made a "massive reproach". On the one hand, the recordings are "of highly legitimate public interest," on the other hand, the lawyer, as trustee , should have protected Gudenus' interests and warned him of the false identity of the oligarch's niece. There is a risk of repetition, blackmail and reason to believe that more copies of the videos are available. The lawyer has offered this to several people in the past. It is also very relevant whether the recordings are made by "real" journalists or not. At the beginning of November, the Higher Regional Court of Vienna confirmed the injunction and also found that the method of obtaining information was "particularly dishonest and unlawful in several respects". Further appeals to the Supreme Court were allowed. The Supreme Court in March 2020 overturned the injunction on the publication of the video because it was an "exceptionally large contribution to a debate of public interest".

Criminal law

The SPÖ submitted a statement of facts to the Economic and Corruption Public Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) in order to have the incidents investigated for criminally relevant behavior of the politicians involved. The Ministry of Justice , headed by Minister Josef Moser , entrusted the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office with the examination of the situation, which passed the order on to the WKStA. On May 20, 2019, this initiated an investigation against Gudenus and others on suspicion of “ infidelity ”, “inciting infidelity” and “accepting benefits to influence”. In the Bundeskriminalamt has been to support the investigations of the Vienna public prosecutor, mainly the production and the principal of the videos are in the focus, and the WKSTA, focusing on possible misconduct by politicians, a special commission (set up Soko Ibiza od. Soko Tape called) , who is also assisted by employees of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counter-Terrorism . On June 13, 2019, it became known that the WKStA was also investigating Strache and other people for infidelity.

On May 24th, Heinz-Christian Strache announced that he would file a criminal complaint against a lawyer, a detective and a still unknown decoy because of the “illegal and secretly created video recording”. On May 27, the Vienna Public Prosecutor announced that an investigation had been initiated. Meanwhile, a private detective, who is said to have been significantly involved in the production of the video, and two other men are being investigated for fraud, misuse of sound recording and listening devices and forgery of specially protected documents.

In August the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office carried out a house search at the law firm's headquarters and at the lawyer's home address. Two packets of cocaine were found, but the video material they were looking for was not. A complaint against the house search was rejected by the Vienna Higher Regional Court in February 2020. Mid-November 2019 were carried out house searches in Vienna and Salzburg and initially three people on suspicion of assault, dangerous threat, falsification of documents and extortion been arrested . The two men and one woman were given pre-trial detention , and one of the suspects and the woman were released from custody after a short time. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Obermaier and Obermayer describe the investigation as "questionable" because the "allegations against alleged backers [...] are vague and the evidence [...] is shaky".

As emerged from the investigation report of the Federal Criminal Police Office to the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office in February 2020, the Austrian authorities came across large donations from industrialists amounting to hundreds of thousands of euros to four FPÖ-affiliated associations. Among them are the ILAG asset management of the Turnauer family, the weapons manufacturer Steyr Arms and the gaming group Novomatic , which is said to have donated 240,000 euros to the “Institute for Security Policy”. Those involved deny that money from the donations continued to flow to the FPÖ or to Strache. On the other hand, the authorities assume that the associations were founded “in consultation with Strache and Gudenus” with the intention of “making financial contributions for the FPÖ and Heinz-Christian Strache”. Several message chats would show that both knew about the donations. In addition, relatively low expenditures for the purpose of the association were determined by the associations.

Complete "Ibiza Video"

On May 27, 2020, one week before the start of the parliamentary committee of inquiry, Andreas Holzer, the head of Soko Ibiza in the Federal Criminal Police Office, presented journalists with the Kronen Zeitung at an exclusive media meeting with a balance sheet of the 55 house searches, 259 interrogations and 48 observations made so far and 15 phone surveys collected materials. He also made it public for the first time that they had found 12:32 hours of video and audio recordings in digital form and had therefore been in possession of the “Ibiza video”, which was previously only partially available, since April 21. Only the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office was previously informed by the investigating authority. The fact that the WKStA only found out about it from the media and was not informed by Soko subsequently caused discussions. Holzer justified this by stating that they only acted on behalf of the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office, not the WKStA. The Ministry of Justice contradicted this, now under the leadership of Alma Zadić ( Greens ), to whom the WKStA is assigned. As became known in the investigative committee, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) had already been informed by the Federal Criminal Police Office in mid-May, at least one week before Holzer's media event, that the video had been found. He did not mention this to the Minister of Justice in a conversation at the end of May about the investigation into the Ibiza affair. The interior minister Nehammer said that it was only passed on to the public prosecutor's office seven weeks after it was found that the detectives still need time to evaluate and write copies. On May 8, the Federal Criminal Police Office handed the files over to the Vienna Public Prosecutor and the WKStA.

Simultaneously with the announcement of the find, the Federal Criminal Police Office also gave pictures of the alleged “oligarch niece” from the video material to the media, with the aim of accelerating the international search for her. Criminal law experts criticized this form of manhunt in this case as excessive because it was not guilty of any serious crime.

Professional law

At the end of May 2019, the Vienna Bar Association initiated proceedings against the lawyer who initiated the Ibiza video. It will be examined whether there have been legal misconduct, in particular the suspicion of money laundering will be investigated.

In November, the Bar Association announced that no professional ethics measures would be possible until the criminal investigation was completed. The disciplinary statute for lawyers stipulates that a disciplinary decision may never be issued as long as proceedings are being conducted in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure. Herbert Gartner, the President of the Disciplinary Board of the Vienna Bar Association, said that "interim measures against a colleague" are rare. Usually a lawyer comes with a declaration of self-commitment to help clarify a provisional measure taken by the Chamber against him beforehand.

Reactions

Immediately involved

The Kronen Zeitung, directly affected by the scandal, had a nationwide headline on Saturday with “FPÖ at the end!”. Editor-in-chief Klaus Herrmann described the affair as a “political scandal of unimaginable proportions” and called for the resignation of Strache and Gudenus.

Hans Peter Haselsteiner (2013)

The entrepreneur Hans Peter Haselsteiner , who is one of the owners and former CEO of Strabag SE , has announced that, based on Strache's statements, he will examine all public sector contracts with Strabag's competitors. End of August 2017 was the video the STRABAG lobbyists and former LIF - Secretary Zoltan Aczel offered. He should tell Haselsteiner about it. Five million euros were required. Aczel declined, saying that he only informed Haselsteiner after the publication in May 2019.

All other entrepreneurs mentioned, including Gaston Glock, Heidi Horten and René Benko, as well as the Novomatic Group, denied payments to the FPÖ or upstream associations.

Russian billionaire Igor Makarov said in the Russian edition of Forbes business magazine : “It is common knowledge that I was the only child in the family and, accordingly, I have no nieces. We use all legal means to find out who is behind the unauthorized use of my name. ”On May 20, 2019, Makarov's Viennese lawyers asked the Süddeutsche Zeitung to publish “ the recordings of the meeting in Ibiza ”and the“ existing correspondence ” what was rejected.

politics

All opposition parties at the federal level demanded the resignation of Gudenus and Strache after the affair became known. The Federal Managing Director of the SPÖ , Thomas Drozda, rejected any involvement of his party in the affair and announced an injunction and an action for cease and desist against Kurz: “The outrageous accusations of the Federal Chancellor, who claimed in several interviews that the SPÖ had with the Ibiza - Doing video will have legal consequences. ”The parliamentary club of the list now saw Strache and Gudenus as representatives of a“ completely squalid society ”, the Neos also called for new elections. In Vorarlberg , where a new state parliament will be elected in autumn 2019 , Governor Markus Wallner spoke of “political scrap” after the Ibiza video became known and concluded a coalition with the FPÖ Vorarlberg under the direction of Christof Bitschi .

On May 21, 2019, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen addressed the public in a televised address and asked them not to turn away from politics in “disgust”. On the video, “a moral image” could be seen, “that deeply violates borders, an image of disrespect, a breach of trust, even political neglect”.

In contrast, one of the resigned FPÖ ministers criticized the Federal Chancellor's behavior in the daily newspaper Kurier : “In front of the public, Kurz says that the FPÖ cannot govern. The day after the break, Kurz then calls all FPÖ ministers to thank them for the good cooperation, and even offers the prospect of cooperation after the election. We don't understand such behavior ”. The new FPÖ boss Norbert Hofer called the video “inexcusable”, although according to Spiegel it is open what it means: that Strache fell into the trap or what he said.

In Germany, CDU chairman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer reacted to the video with the conclusion that right-wing populists in Europe, regardless of the country, are ready to sell the interests of their country for their own well-being. SPD chairman Andrea Nahles and SPD general secretary Lars Klingbeil immediately called for new elections in Austria, AfD boss Jörg Meuthen did not want to “ stab in the back” of the FPÖ because of a “singular matter”. The party chairman of the Left, Bernd Riexinger , called the FPÖ a party of the "rich" - "corrupt and brazen". Annalena Baerbock from the Greens complained that right-wing populists despise values ​​such as freedom of the press and the rule of law and are working to undermine democracy, and she also called for new elections. On the day of Strache's resignation, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a press conference in Croatia that right-wing populists' policy was "that minorities are not protected, that elementary human rights are questioned, and that politics play a role".

The French politician Marine Le Pen , who works with the FPÖ on a European level, was surprised that the video was only published a few days before the European elections .

media

Many domestic media have called for the politicians concerned to resign, for an end to the coalition government and for new elections. In the daily newspaper Kurier , editor-in-chief Martina Salomon said that Strache would have to resign if the coalition was to continue, and questioned who published the video and for what reasons. Domestic policy editor Conrad Seidl said in the daily newspaper Der Standard that nobody could be “so drunk” to make statements like Strache and called on Chancellor Kurz to end government cooperation. Oliver Pink commented in the daily Die Presse that the situation was a nightmare for the Vice Chancellor, the government and the republic, and attested that Strache and Gudenus would not get out of the "trap" again. The editor-in-chief of the Salzburger Nachrichten , Manfred Perterer , said the case was unstoppable and called for a reaction from Chancellor Kurz, as did the Kleine Zeitung in a comment. Peter Nindler saw the video in the Tyrolean daily newspaper as an oath of revelation, while the Upper Austrian News called for Strache's resignation and the questioning of the coalition.

Political scientist Peter Filzmaier criticized Kurz's waiting and his tactics for the Ministry of the Interior with the words: “The facts were there no later than 11 o'clock, when Strache briefed Kurz of his resignation, at the latest. Then another nine hours have passed, for which there was no reason. Just because he wanted to go to ZIB 1 [briefly] , he won't have waited that long. […] This is actually fueling new conspiracy theories : Has the FPÖ started an action ' Save Kickl ' as if that were the only important point in the last few hours and days, and conversely, the ÖVP wanted the Ministry of the Interior because it knows something there is going on that we all don't know? That would be a really strange story, if it was true ”. ORF presenter Armin Wolf found that "it seems as if Mr. Kurz wants to honor the title of Silent Chancellor". The Concordia press club said in a broadcast: “Recent events have prompted us to express our protest against this new style of certain politicians. It cannot be the case that journalists are only invited to press conferences and press statements for one purpose, in order to have an audience for a production. "

Even The default criticized for its short-crisis management: "Perhaps we should remember what threatens to seep under the patriotic bombast of the last days: Do not short the cleansing is attributable to its government as merit. Without the video from Ibiza, his turquoise-blue government would still make Austria happy without annoying arguments [...] He himself never found more than an occasional critical word about the extreme right-wing derailments of blue government members, but to apologize for the morals of a policy, For which he touched the colors, he leaves that to the Federal President. "

Fritz Plasser stated in an interview with the weekly newspaper Die Zeit : “We not only have a tabloidization of the newspaper landscape in Austria, but also a tabloidization of the understanding of politics by many political elites. And that in turn leads to this unbelievable and shameless statement by Heinz-Christian Strache. "Strache's request to find a media power base in the Kronen Zeitung was viewed critically by Plasser:" Alliances between political actors and the editorial tenor of the Kronenzeitung are generally short-term, not resilient and can change at any time due to a different topic. And in some cases it was a big mistake to say 'Well, the Kronenzeitung is on our side'. "

In the Frankfurter Rundschau , Norbert Mappes-Niediek wrote that the affair did not have much to offer and that the shift to the right would probably not stop in the long term. The FPÖ's corruption and its flirtation with Russian oligarchs are known and do not care about their voters. “After 30 years of right-wing populism” there is “a basic cynicism” in Austria. Outrage arrives as "hypocrisy and theatrics". "As Klein-Mäxchen imagines politics, so it is: That will be the sad lesson in the end."

Regarding Straches and Gudenus' attempts to explain and exonerate, Nils Minkmar said in the Spiegel : “So human, all too human characteristics are cited as an excuse: we should talk about seducibility, intoxication and sadness, not about radical political plans. Here the benevolent, weak men who worry about the endangerment of their children and grandchildren, there the cold mechanism of a foreign power, a political assassination [...] "

On the same aspect, Bastian Obermayer emphasized in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that Strache would have had the choice: he could have “got up and left that evening when the two decoys first demanded something in return, which an honest politician interested in law and order in not allowed to give to a democracy. Never allowed to give. Never, never, never. But Strache remained seated. ”In addition, this evening had been prepared by Gudenus for months and Strache had been informed about it -“ how else could he have asked in the introduction what 'has already progressed there'? ”

Michael Stifter pointed out in the Augsburger Allgemeine that those who were upset about the trap set up confused victims and perpetrators. He went on to write about the FPÖ's understanding of the media: “Of all things, the FPÖ, which so likes to fantasize about controlled media, which wants to pull critical journalists out of circulation, precisely that party is trying to buy votes with manipulated journalism. That shows the right-wing populists' total contempt for democracy. "

In the Tagesspiegel , Max Tholl pointed out that it would be problematic if revelations “replace democratic persuasion”. The demagogues would have to be “beaten where they come from: at the ballot boxes”. The upswing of right-wing populists will probably not be stopped by the scandal, "because for many right-wing populist voters, scandals and affairs are of little consequence". The scandal is even "an inherent part of the populist logic" and the breaking of taboos expands their scope of action. "A policy of schadenfreude, which relies on scandals instead of political arguments, only feeds the existing distrust of the citizens in politics and only provides the populists with material for their martyrs' stories."

Hans Rauscher , commentator for the daily newspaper Der Standard , criticized the very hesitant and late reaction of Sebastian Kurz. He stated: “Sebastian Kurz spent a whole long day making a decision about how he would be chancellor of the republic Austria wants to continue. Not exactly a sign of leadership. ”He described the Chancellor's confidence in his own abilities,“ he will be able to tame the FPÖ. He couldn't and now he has maneuvered himself, his ÖVP and Austria into the mother of all crises. "

The Krone journalist Richard Schmitt, who was praised by Strache in the video, had been on leave since the video was published and had to vacate his post as head of the online Krone in June 2019. At the end of July he left the crown and switched to oe24.tv in September 2019 .

Professional detectives

Austrian professional detectives fear damage to their image by the procedure in the creation of the Ibiza video. The media had “wrongly called the masterminds detectives and thus slandered an entire profession.” In Germany “anyone can call himself a detective ”, while professional detective in Austria is a regulated trade that requires an official qualification test and special reliability. The male decoy that appears is an Austrian who is the managing director of a detective agency in Germany.

On December 10, 2020, the private detective Julian H. was arrested as the alleged mastermind of the video in Berlin after he had been in hiding for a year. The Austrian judiciary charged him with the illegal production of sound and film recordings as well as cocaine trafficking. However, the Berlin-Moabit district court did not order his arrest to accuse him of producing or distributing the video, as this was not unauthorized under Spanish law, but only because of the allegations of drug trafficking and the (attempted) blackmailing of HC Strache with the video. On March 2, 2021, the Berlin Court of Appeal decided that he could be extradited to Austria, and Julian H. was transferred to the Vienna Regional Court on March 9, 2021, after he was before the “Wirecard” investigative committee on March 5, 2021 of the German Bundestag testified as a witness.

Pop culture and other things

The 1999 Eurodance hit We're Going to Ibiza by the Dutch music group Vengaboys established itself as the protest song of the affair and rose to the top chart positions of streaming services in Austria the week after the video with Strache was published . The impetus was given by Jan Böhmermann, who published the music video on Twitter without comment on the day the scandal video was published. The band performed on May 30th as part of a Thursday demonstration in front of the Federal Chancellery. In September 2019, another cover version of the song was released with the title You're Gonna Hate Ibiza , where the text makes very open reference to the events surrounding the Ibiza affair.

The advertising value for Red Bull GmbH - numerous vodka energies are consumed in the video - was calculated at 1.32 million euros. It does not take into account the mentions of the brand on social networks and memes .

The Zotter brought in the summer of 2019, the variety Bergl instead Ibiza "Ma is the schoaf" with chili and currant on the market, as an allusion to the statement Strache to the attractiveness of the female decoy.

The German satirist and journalist Jan Böhmermann and the Austrian director David Schalko have been filming the "Ibiza Affair" together as a feature film since November 2019. According to Böhmermann, one must "set about telling 'Ibiza' internationally and preserving it for posterity."

As word of the year 2019 was "Ibiza" chosen as a taboo word "b'soffene G'schicht" as saying "Cheer and some confidence we can get it out already" and as Unspruch "Zack, chop, chop" .

In February 2020, the play Schwarzwasser by Elfriede Jelinek with Felix Kammerer , Caroline Peters , Christoph Luser and Martin Wuttke and directed by Robert Borgmann was premiered at the Vienna Akademietheater, which deals with the Ibiza affair, among other things.

In 2021, the "Ibiza Affair" will be filmed as a four-part political thriller by Sky . Filming began in early 2021. Directed by Christopher Schier , Andreas Lust as Heinz-Christian Strache, Nicholas Ofczarek as Julian H. and Julian Looman as Johann Gudenus were in front of the camera.

Destruction of data carriers

→ Main article : Shredder affair

On July 20, 2019, it became known that the head of the “Social Media” department in the Chancellery at Reisswolf had destroyed five hard drives . Since the client gave a false identity and did not pay the bill for 76 euros, Reisswolf filed charges of fraud. Since the hard drives were destroyed six days after the Ibiza affair was exposed (but several days before the motion of censure that ultimately led to the end of the Federal Government Brief I ) and because there was a breach of the official archiving obligations, the proceedings were initially sent to the Special commission for Ibiza submitted.

On September 2, the WKStA declared that, according to their investigation status , there was no connection between the shredder affair and the Ibiza video. However, the WKStA was prevented from further investigations. She wanted to have the cell phone and laptop of the employee of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) confiscated. The order was no longer carried out, however, because the corruption investigators had to relinquish the proceedings following an "exceptional instruction" from the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office.

In March 2021, new investigations were started based on a presentation of the facts.

See also

• Casinos affair

literature

• Bastian Obermayer , Frederik Obermaier : The Ibiza Affair. Inside views of a scandal . With a foreword by Armin Wolf . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2019, ISBN 978-3-462-05407-1 .
• Barbara Tóth: To Ibiza and back . In: Thomas Hofer , Barbara Tóth (Ed.): Election 2019. Strategies, Schnitzel, Scandals . Ecowin, Salzburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-7110-0254-9 .
• Stefan Apfl, Sebastian Loudon, Alexander Zach : Where are we here anyway? Austria in conversation . Brandstätter, Vienna 2019, ISBN 978-3-7106-0381-5 , 2nd act - On hopeless optimists and the deregulation of truth, Ibiza and the forces of evil, the human right to travel long distances and to think outside the box, p. 62 ff .
• Anja Peltzer, Elena Pilipets: The irony of indignation. Affective politics in the digital afterlife of the Ibiza video. In: Berliner Debatte Initial 31 (2020), 2, pp. 108–122.

Web links

• Key scenes from the Ibiza video on the Süddeutsche Zeitung website
• Strache-Video Austria: Reviewers checked the recordings. Spiegel Online ( spiegel.de )
• Strache's resignation speech in full on the derstandard.at website
• »Austria is simply not like that«. (No longer available online.) In: bundespraesident.at. May 18, 2019, archived from the original on May 19, 2019 . 
• Austria's government crisis. The trace of the Ibiza video. Video in: Frontal21 , ZDF , May 28, 2019. The manuscripts of the broadcast on May 28, 2019. ( zdf.de PDF).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Reactions to the Strache affair: "Austria did not deserve this government" , faz.net of May 18, 2019, accessed on May 25, 2019.
2. ↑ Hasnain Kazim : FPÖ after the Strache affair: "Our future is on the right" , Spiegel Online from May 19, 2019, accessed on May 25, 2019.
3. ↑ Strache affair: Ex-Federal President Wulff fears imitators . dpa message on sueddeutsche.de , May 23, 2019, accessed on August 21, 2020 .  .
4. ↑ Anton Pelinka : On the way to the right outside. In: Zeit Online . May 20, 2019. Retrieved May 25, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Secret recordings weigh heavily on Austria's Vice Chancellor. In: SZ.de . May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019 . 
6. ↑ FPÖ boss promised government contracts against election campaign support. In: Spiegel Online . May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Florian Klenk : The secret Strache videos: What it's about. In: falter.at. May 17, 2019, accessed November 23, 2019 (Paywall).  
8. ^ Ofer Aderet: Austria's Far-right Vice-chancellor Resigns Over Video Scandal. In: Haaretz . May 18, 2019, accessed September 30, 2019 .  
9. ^ Philip Oeltermann: Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz ousted in no-confidence vote. In: The Guardian . May 27, 2019, accessed September 30, 2019 .  
10. ↑ New elections are to take place at the beginning of September. In: ZEIT ONLINE. May 19, 2019, accessed May 21, 2019 . 
11. ↑ bundespraesident.at: removal, entrustment and swearing in of the outgoing federal government . Speech by the Federal President on May 28, 2019, accessed on May 28, 2019.
12. ↑ Michael Jungwirth: New interim government: Van der Bellen: Brigitte Bierlein becomes the first female chancellor. May 30, 2019, accessed May 30, 2019 . 
13. ↑ ZIB2 : The Ibiza case (from 0:01:07) on YouTube , May 17, 2019, accessed on September 15, 2019.
14. ↑ Leila Al-Serori, Oliver Das Gupta, Peter Münch, Frederik Obermaier, Bastian Obermayer: The Strache video: The trap. In: sueddeutsche.de . May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Lars Wienand: Strache fell into the trap in this luxury villa. In: t-online.de. May 19, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019 . 
16. ↑ Lukas Matzinger: The most important quotes from the Strache videos. In: Falter.at. May 17, 2019, accessed May 22, 2019 . 
17. ↑ Search for Strache's "Association". In: The press. May 19, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019 . 
18. ↑ "We for HC Strache": Three new secret clubs in the FPÖ environment appeared. In: Profile (online). May 25, 2019. Retrieved May 26, 2019 . 
19. ↑ Ralf Leonhard: Book about "Ibiza Affair": Champagne, black money and FPÖ. taz.de, August 26, 2019.
20. ↑ Thomas Vieregge, Erich Kocina: Strache's fateful summer evening in Ibiza. In: Die Presse , May 17, 2019.
21. ↑ Eva Konzett: Money is thicker than water . In: Falter . No. 21 , May 22, 2019, p. 21 ( falter.at [accessed on November 23, 2019] Paywall).
22. ↑ ^{a b} One million euros advertising value The secret winner of the Ibiza video is Red Bull. The beverage giant Red Bull is the secret winner of the video with Heinz-Christian Strache filmed in Ibiza. The extensive mention of Vodka Red Bull has at least a seven-digit advertising value. In: Kleine Zeitung , May 26, 2019, accessed on August 21, 2019.
23. ↑ Anita Staudacher: Dietrich Mateschitz is 75: The realm of the can billionaire. Portrait: How the Red Bull founder came to the energy drink, what he made of it and how it appears in the Ibiza video. In: Kurier , May 20, 2019, accessed on August 21, 2019. (“... In the ominous' Ibiza video 'with Heinz-Christian Strache, the billionaire appears several times. Strache, who describes himself in the video as' Red Bull Brother from Austria ', speaks of possibly wanting to privatize ORF in favor of Mateschitz. Elsewhere, however, he expresses himself skeptical. Mateschitz' doesn't understand the business'. ")
24. ↑ Leila al-Serori, Oliver Das Gupta, Peter Münch, Frederik Obermaier, Bastian Obermayer: HC, the boaster. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 18, 2019.
25. ↑ ^{a b} The secret Strache videos: What it's about. In: youtube.com. Falter, May 17, 2019, accessed May 19, 2019 . 
26. ↑ "That's the deal": The key scenes from the Ibiza video. In: diepresse.com. May 18, 2019, accessed May 19, 2019 . 
27. ↑ Government contracts against election campaign assistance: secret videos burden Strache. In: nachrichten.at. May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019 . 
28. ↑ ^{a b} "Are you stupid, she's sharp" - quotes from the Ibiza video. In: nachrichten.at. May 18, 2019, accessed May 19, 2019 . 
29. ↑ Süddeutsche de GmbH, Munich Germany: How the Strache video was checked for authenticity. Retrieved August 18, 2019 . 
30. ↑ Maik Baumgärtner, Vera Deleja-Hotko, Martin Knobbe, Walter Mayr, Alexandra Rojkov and Wolf Wiedmann-Schmidt : Can Austria's Vice Chancellor be bought? In: Spiegel Online . 17th May 2019.
31. ↑ Strache spreads rumors about Kurz. In: ntv. May 18, 2019, accessed June 29, 2019 . 
32. ↑ Deutschlandfunk : Publication of the Strache video, legal assessment (audio) , ( broadcast on May 20, 2019 ); Basic judgment of January 25, 1984 (so-called Wallraff judgment) .
33. ↑ Lukas Zimmer: Munich public prosecutors stop investigations against "Ibiza" detectives . In: horizon . December 6, 2019.
    Anne Leiding: Discontinuation of the proceedings against those responsible for the Süddeutsche Zeitung because of the publication of the so-called "Ibiza video" . In: Munich prosecutor . December 6, 2019.
34. ↑ Kid Möchel, Johanna Hager: The Ibiza book is really that explosive . In: Courier . 22 August 2019, p. 2 ( Online [accessed September 15, 2019]).
35. ↑ "Ibiza mastermind reports from meeting Böhmermann" www.welt.de from January 27, 2021.
36. ↑ ^{a b} Fabian Schmid: Gudenus lawsuit against lawyer shows how Strache ended up in the finca. In: derStandard.at . August 16, 2019, accessed September 9, 2019 . 
37. ^ ^{A b} David Krutzler: Ibiza video: Viennese lawyer rejects "all allegations and allegations". In: The Standard . May 23, 2019, accessed May 24, 2019 . 
38. ↑ Kim Son Hoang, David Krutzler, Fabian Schmid: Lawyer for a suspected Ibiza wire-puller: "It was a project motivated by civil society" , Der Standard from May 24, 2019.
39. ↑ ^{a b} Gudenus obtains a “video stop” . In: The press . September 10, 2019, p. 2 ( Online [accessed September 14, 2019]).
40. ↑ ^{a b c} Holger Stark : "Ramin and the detectives" . In: The world . No.  28 , July 4, 2019, p. 4, 5 ( zeit.de [accessed on September 23, 2019] The article was updated due to further information and a court decision).
41. ↑ "It may be that Austria burns tomorrow" Böhmermann was also offered a Strache video. In: Small newspaper . May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019 . 
42. ↑ Manager confirms: Böhmermann knew Strache video. In: derStandard.at . May 18, 2019, accessed May 19, 2019 . 
43. ↑ Böhmermann and the video. In: sueddeutsche.de. May 19, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019 . 
44. ↑ Ibiza video: ZDF rules out Böhmermann's participation - he delivers another teaser In: Die Presse from May 21, 2019, accessed on May 25, 2019.
45. ↑ Die Presse : Strache-Video: Is the “Center for Political Beauty” behind it? Article dated May 19, 2019, accessed May 19, 2019.
46. ↑ ORF : Tal Silberstein denies involvement in "Ibiza-Video" , May 20, 2019.
47. ↑ ORF : Rabinovici: Kurz '"game" with anti-Semitism . May 20, 2019.
48. ↑ German media: Secret recordings burden Strache. In: orf.at . May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019 . 
49. ↑ SZ reporter reports how the Strache video was handed over to them. In: focus.de from May 19, 2019.
50. ↑ Ibiza video: lawyer makes confession - "investigative-journalistic project". In: Courier . May 25, 2019. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
51. ↑ It wasn't just that one evening. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . May 19, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019 . 
52. ↑ "who / zah / lts / chaf / ft / an": Alleged OTS message to alleged FPÖ investors. In: derStandard.at . May 19, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019 . 
53. ↑ Andreas Müller: Demo on Ballhausplatz: "The entire government should resign". Der Standard, May 18, 2019, accessed May 25, 2019 . 
54. ↑ Nina Weißensteiner: Chronology of Chaos: What has happened since the Ibiza Gate erupted. Der Standard, May 19, 2019, accessed May 19, 2019 . 
55. ↑ "B'soffene G'schichte": Strache's resignation in full. Die Presse, May 18, 2019, accessed on May 19, 2019 . 
56. ↑ Briefly closes the turquoise-blue route to Strache's Ibiza scandal , Tiroler Tageszeitung, May 18, 2019.
57. ↑ ^{a b} Van der Bellen for new elections in September. In: nachrichten.at. May 19, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019 . 
58. ↑ Kurz announces a new election. In: faz.net. May 18, 2019, accessed May 18, 2019 . 
59. ↑ Landbauer speaks of "blackmail" by Chancellor Kurz. Courier, May 18, 2019, accessed May 18, 2019 . 
60. ↑ ^{a b} Sebastian Fellner: A crisis full of question marks . In: The Standard . May 20, 2019, p. 2 ( derstandard.at [accessed on November 23, 2019]).
61. ↑ Briefly closes the turquoise-blue route after Strache's Ibiza scandal. Tiroler Tageszeitung, May 18, 2019, accessed on May 18, 2019 . 
62. ↑ Kickl-Mann Goldgruber becomes General Director for Public Security. In: tt.com. May 20, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019 . 
63. ↑ Goldgruber appointment - Van der Bellen lies down. ORF , May 20, 2019, accessed on May 20, 2019 . 
64. ↑ Briefly was informed: Federal President will not sign Goldgruber's appointment. Kleine Zeitung, May 20, 2019, accessed on May 20, 2019 . 
65. ^ After kickl, the minister of the interior, left Austria's government. Spiegel Online, May 20, 2019, accessed on May 21, 2019 . 
66. ↑ Kurz proposes kickl's dismissal, experts should head ministries. May 20, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019 . 
67. ↑ Four experts as new ministers. In: tagesschau.de. May 22, 2019, accessed May 22, 2019 . 
68. ^ Off for government short. ORF, May 27, 2019, accessed on May 27, 2019 . 
69. ↑ Early state elections in Bgld. In: burgenland.orf.at. Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, May 19, 2019, accessed on May 19, 2019 . 
70. ↑ orf.at: State elections will take place on January 26, 2020. Article dated May 20, 2019, accessed May 20, 2019.
71. ↑ The end of red-blue is approaching in Linz. In: Oberösterreichische Nachrichten , May 19, 2019.
72. ↑ Rendi-Wagner announces early election in Linz , Die Presse, May 19, 2019.
73. ^ Upper Austria: FPÖ Provincial Councilor Podgorschek resigns . Article dated May 20, 2019, accessed May 20, 2019.
74. ↑ Barbara Eidenberger: Coalition of ÖVP and FPÖ remains in the country. In: nachrichten.at. May 20, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019 . 
75. ^ Personal declaration by Johann Gudenus. Withdrawal from the National Council and resignation from all party functions. In: ots.at. Freedom Parliamentary Club, May 18, 2019, accessed May 19, 2019 . 
76. ↑ Gudenus fears further material from Ibiza. The video from Ibiza is "a real disaster". The ex-FPÖ man speaks of “too little sleep, too much alcohol, mixed with energy drinks and psychotropic substances”. In: Die Presse / APA , May 21, 2019, accessed on May 21, 2019.
77. ↑ SPÖ complains against Kurz - and Strache trembles at more video material. www.neuepresse.de, May 22, 2019.
78. ↑ HC Strache breaks his silence and accuses former Chancellor Kurz of breaking his word. www.stern.de, August 10, 2019.
79. ↑ Frederik Obermaier, Bastian Obermayer: It seems that it was him himself. Www.sueddeutsche.de, September 25, 2019.
80. ↑ Johann Gudenus resigns from the FPÖ, Strache comeback, however, is not excluded. In: Der Standard , May 19, 2019.
81. ↑ Ibiza video: Strache wants to prove "his innocence". diepresse.com, May 21, 2019.
82. ↑ Katja Thorwarth: Strache in the video: "They pay between 500,000 and one and a half to two million". (No longer available online.) In: Frankfurter Rundschau . May 25, 2019, archived from the original on May 26, 2019 ; accessed on November 23, 2019 .  
83. ↑ Kurz cancels election campaign appearance in Munich. (No longer available online.) In: Welt Online . May 24, 2019, archived from the original on May 24, 2019 ; accessed on November 23, 2019 .  
84. ↑ Dominik Nepp becomes the new FPÖ boss in Vienna. In: Vienna. ORF .at, May 20, 2019, accessed on May 21, 2019.
85. ^ Peter Münch: The FPÖ goes to the Trotsburg. www.sueddeutsche.de, May 24, 2019.
86. ↑ Christoph Schattleitner: Strache wants to go back, FPÖ is now thinking about his exclusion. kurier.at, November 24, 2019.
87. ↑ Werner Reisinger: The blue split mushrooms . In: Wiener Zeitung . December 13, 2019, p. 3 ( wienerzeitung.at [accessed on December 13, 2019]).
88. ↑ Committee of Inquiry into the alleged marketability of the turquoise-blue federal government (Ibiza Committee of Inquiry). In: parlament.gv.at. January 22, 2020, accessed January 24, 2020 . 
89. ↑ ^{a b c} U Committee: Members from the parties have been determined. In: The press . January 23, 2020, accessed January 24, 2020 . 
90. ↑ Strache and Gudenus: Two innocent lambs in the U-Committee , Der Standard, June 4, 2020.
91. ↑ Strache rejects allegation of the post haggling , Zeit Online, June 4, 2020.
92. ^ "Ibiza" U-Committee: procedural judge resigns. In: ORF.at . June 25, 2020, accessed June 25, 2020 . 
93. ↑ Constitutional Court Austria: Minister of Justice has to submit the entire "Ibiza video" to the U-Committee. December 4, 2020, accessed April 15, 2020 . 
94. ↑ After VfGH decision: Minister of Justice wants to deliver video "as soon as possible". December 4, 2020, accessed April 15, 2021 . 
95. ↑ Complete Ibiza video arrived in parliament. December 18, 2020, accessed April 15, 2021 . 
96. ↑ Constitutional Court of Austria: VfGH_03.03.2021_UA_1_2021_Eraware. March 3, 2021, accessed April 15, 2021 . 
97. ↑ Constitutional Court Bluemel has to hand over mails from Löger employees to U-Committee. March 4, 2021, accessed April 15, 2021 . 
98. ↑ Mails pending: Krainer turned to VfGH. In: ORF.at . March 20, 2020, accessed April 15, 2021 . 
99. ↑ Van der Bellen on the VfGH application “There has never been anything like this before” , website: orf.at of May 6, 2021.
100. ↑ VfGH requests the Federal President to execute a decision on files belonging to the BMF , website: vfgh.gv.at from May 6, 2021.
101. ^ ORF : Investigations against Kurz , May 12, 2021.
102. ↑ Der Standard : Investigations against Kurz and his head of cabinet because of false statements , May 12, 2021.
103. ↑ ^{a b} Justice intervenes in Ibiza affair: video is being checked. In: kurier.at . 17th May 2019.
104. ↑ Hans-Peter Siebenhaar : “I will file a complaint” . In: Handelsblatt . No.  97 , May 21, 2019, p. 11 ( handelsblatt.com [accessed November 12, 2019]).
105. ↑ Kern demands: Strache should donate. In: krone.at. November 18, 2019, accessed November 23, 2019 .  
106. ↑ The alleged man behind the Strache video was not allowed to be shown. In: lto.de from May 28, 2019.
107. ↑ The alleged mastermind of the Ibiza video admits wrong information . In: The world . No.  189 , August 15, 2019, p. 5 ( welt.de [accessed September 15, 2019]).
108. ↑ Media process in the Causa Ibiza video . In: Wiener Zeitung . August 10, 2019, p.  9 ( wienerzeitung.at [accessed on November 22, 2019]).
109. ↑ Reports on the detective's past life are not permitted . In: Courier . August 10, 2019, p.  3 ( kurier.at [accessed on November 22, 2019]).
110. ↑ "Ibiza-Video": preliminary injunction against short. In: orf.at . July 1, 2019, accessed July 15, 2019 . 
111. ↑ Fabian Schmid: preliminary injunction against an Ibiza lawyer . In: The Standard . September 10, 2019, p. 11 ( online [accessed September 14, 2019]).
112. ↑ Ibiza video: OLG confirmed interim measures against a Viennese lawyer. In: Salzburger Nachrichten . November 5, 2019, accessed November 12, 2019 .  
113. ↑ OGH evaluates Ibiza-Video as an "extraordinary contribution of public interest". In: derstandard.at . March 6, 2020, accessed March 6, 2020.
114. ^ SPÖ reports Strache and Gudenus to the public prosecutor's office. In: sn.at . May 18, 2019, accessed May 18, 2019 . 
115. ↑ The judiciary is already checking: "Strache and Gudenus are ready to withdraw". In: kleinzeitung.at . May 17, 2019, accessed May 18, 2019 . 
116. ↑ "Ibiza Affair": Justice takes action against five suspects. In: orf.at . June 1, 2019, accessed June 2, 2019.
117. ↑ Anna Thalhammer : Soko-Ibiza starts work. In: diepresse.com . June 3, 2019, accessed June 3, 2019.
118. ↑ Investigations against Strache. In: ORF. June 13, 2019, accessed June 13, 2019 . 
119. ↑ Strache wants to report three people. In: faz.net . May 24, 2019.
120. ^ A vote of no confidence overturns Chancellor Kurz's government. In: welt.de . May 27, 2019.
121. ↑ Ibiza video - now there are also traces to Salzburg. In: sn.at from June 1, 2019.
122. ↑ ^{a b} David Krutzler: Investigations against a lawyer in Ibiza-Causa are ongoing . In: The Standard . September 5, 2019, p. 9 ( derstandard.at [accessed on September 14, 2019]).
123. ↑ ORF-Online of November 11, 2019, 7:29 pm: “Ibiza-Video”: Cocaine found at a lawyer ; accessed on Nov. 21, 2019.
124. ↑ Kid Möchel, Dominik Schreiber: According to the Vienna Higher Regional Court, Ibiza video is not an investigative media project. In: kurier.at. February 4, 2020, accessed February 5, 2020 .  
125. ↑ Ibiza affair: three suspects are still in custody. In: diepresse.at. November 20, 2019, accessed November 23, 2019 .  
126. ↑ Kid Möchel, Michaela Reibenwein, Dominik Schreiber: Ibiza video: Strache charges backers . In: Courier . November 23, 2019, p. 26 ( kurier.at [accessed on November 23, 2019]).
127. ↑ Ibiza video: A suspect remains in custody. In: The press . January 7, 2020, accessed June 7, 2020 . 
128. ↑ Frederik Obermaier, Bastian Obermayer: Soko-Ibiza: Questionable investigations into the Strache video. Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 15, 2020, accessed on June 20, 2020 . 
129. ↑ Leila Al-Serori, Oliver Das Gupta, Peter Münch, Frederik Obermaier, Bastian Obermayer: Large donations to FPÖ associations revealed www.sueddeutsche.de, February 20, 2020.
130. ↑ Christoph Budin : Soko Ibiza secured all of the video material. In: Kronen Zeitung . May 27, 2020, accessed June 6, 2020 . 
131. ↑ Florian Klenk : Serious judicial allegations against Ibiza "special commission tape". In: Falter . May 29, 2020, accessed June 6, 2020 . 
132. ↑ Hickhack the ministries: Justice does not have "Ibiza video" yet. In: The Standard . June 1, 2020, accessed on June 6, 2020 (Austrian German). 
133. ↑ ^{a b} Valentin Simettinger, Jürgen Klatzer, Lukas Krummholz, all ORF.at: Nehammer in “Ibiza” -U committee: Video in conversation with Zadic not an issue. June 5, 2020, accessed June 6, 2020 . 
134. ↑ Fabian Schmid , Sebastian Fellner : The Ibiza video was not worth mentioning for Nehammer. In: The Standard . June 5, 2020, accessed on June 6, 2020 (Austrian German). 
135. ↑ Fabian Schmid: Why there is a crunch between Soko Tape and WKStA. In: The Standard . July 7, 2020, accessed on June 9, 2020 (Austrian German). 
136. ^ Wiener Zeitung Online: Ibiza video is sent to the public prosecutor. Retrieved June 9, 2020 . 
137. ↑ Fabian Schmid: "At the end of April the police found the entire Ibiza video and other clips" Der Standard from May 27, 2020.
138. ^ Klaus Schwaighofer : Causa Oligarchennichte: Passport copy is not considered a forged document. In: The press . May 30, 2020, accessed June 6, 2020 . 
139. ↑ ORF at jkla: Oligarch wants to research the identity of the “oligarch niece ”. June 5, 2020, accessed June 6, 2020 . 
140. ↑ David Krutzler: Sex, Lies and Videotapes in Ibiza Investigations . In: The Standard . November 22, 2019, p. 9 ( derstandard.at [accessed on November 22, 2019]).
141. ↑ Philipp Aichinger: The lawyer and the Ibiza video: What does the professional representation do? In: The press . November 23, 2019, p. 4 ( diepresse.com [accessed November 23, 2019] Paywall).
142. ↑ ^{a b} government crisis - press reviews: "FPÖ at the end". In: vol.at. May 18, 2019, accessed May 19, 2019 . 
143. ↑ Renate Grabner: "Ibiza Gate": Haselsteiner checks all contracts. In: derstandard.at. May 18, 2019, accessed May 19, 2019 . 
144. ↑ Renate Graber, David Krutzler, Kim Son Hoang: Strabag denies having known about the Ibiza video before it was published . In: The Standard . May 27, 2019 ( online [accessed May 28, 2019]).
145. ↑ Thomas Hauser: “Have no niece”: Decoy pretended to be a relative, now Russian billionaire speaks. In: focus.de. May 21, 2019, accessed May 22, 2019 . 
146. ↑ SPÖ federal organization, press service: Ibiza-Video - Drozda: SPÖ brings a lawsuit against ÖVP-Kurz. Austria Press Agency, May 22, 2019, accessed on May 22, 2019 . 
147. ↑ Neos are calling for new elections, Karas does not want to comment for the time being. In: derstandard.at. May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019 . 
148. ↑ vol.at: Markus Wallner after the Ibiza affair: No coalition with Bitschi-FPÖ in Vorarlberg , May 18, 2019.
149. ↑ Ibiza video: Strache considers himself innocent - Van der Bellen swears in new ministers. www.merkur.de, May 22, 2019.
150. ↑ Government crisis : Now it's also about the job of the chancellor. Courier, May 20, 2019, accessed May 21, 2019 . 
151. ↑ Hasnain Kazim: New FPÖ boss Hofer: Radical with manners. www.spiegel.de, May 21, 2019.
152. ^ ^{A b} "SPD wants new elections, AKK warns of rights" , NTV of May 18, 2019.
153. ↑ AfD boss Meuthen stands for the FPÖ despite the Strache scandal. www.maz-online.de, May 18, 2019.
154. ↑ AFP: welt.de , May 18, 2019, Welt .
155. ↑ This is how Europe's politicians reacted to the Strache video. In: nachrichten.at. May 18, 2019, accessed May 19, 2019 . 
156. ↑ Gestrachelt - Austria faces an uncertain future after the scandal. In: Aargauer Zeitung , May 19, 2019.
157. ^ "Against the Loss of Control" - Journalists Against Message Control. Broadcast, Concordia Press Club, May 21, 2019.
158. ↑ Short crisis, not a state crisis. Der Standard, May 24, 2019.
159. ↑ "Alliances with the Kronenzeitung are not resilient". In: Die Zeit , May 19, 2019.
160. ↑ Norbert Mappes-Niediek: The Ibiza affair is no cause for celebration. www.fr.de, May 21, 2019.
161. ↑ Nils Minkmar: The hate preacher. www.spiegel.de, May 19, 2019.
162. ↑ Bastian Obermayer: Strache has to go right. In: sueddeutsche.de , May 18, 2019.
163. ↑ Michael Stifter: Sebastian Kurz failed as a probation officer for the FPÖ. In: augsburger-allgemeine.de , May 19, 2019.
164. ↑ Max Tholl: Why any malicious glee about the Strache case is wrong. www.tagesspiegel.de, May 23, 2019.
165. ↑ Hans Rauscher : Kurz failed with the FPÖ - and still wants our trust , May 18, 2019.
166. ↑ Oliver Das Gupta: Strache's best must go. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . July 1, 2019, accessed July 11, 2019 . 
167. ↑ Harald Fidler: From Dichand zack, zack, zack to Fellner . In: The Standard . August 2, 2019, p. 28 ( derstandard.at [accessed on September 26, 2019]).
168. ↑ Kid Möchel: Detective: "They weren't professionals" . In: Courier . May 25, 2019, p. 4 ( kurier.at [accessed on September 23, 2019]).
169. ↑ Julia Wenzel: On the trail of the detectives . In: The press . September 15, 2019, p. 34 ( diepresse.com [accessed on September 23, 2019] Paywall): "[Note: Markus Schwaiger] The media wrongly called the masterminds Julian H. and Sascha W. detectives and thus slandered an entire profession. In the industry, the two 'solid posts', as he calls them, have been considered fraudsters for 20 years. "
170. ↑ Alexa Lutteri: The uprising of the sniffers . In: News . No. 29 , 19 July 2019, p. 32–35 ( torial.com [accessed September 23, 2019] online on the author's homepage).
171. ↑ Federal government takes action against the company of the alleged backer. In: Welt Online . May 23, 2019, accessed September 23, 2019 .  
172. ↑ Suspected mastermind of the Ibiza video arrested in Berlin. In: Der Tagesspiegel . December 11, 2020, accessed March 9, 2021 . 
173. ^ Press release from his defense counsel of December 14, 2020; this would preclude him from being brought to trial for the production or distribution of the video, unless he agrees.
174. ↑ tagesschau.de: "Ibiza-Video": Alleged mastermind is extradited. Retrieved March 3, 2021 . 
175. ↑ delivered "Ibiza" -Drahtzieher Julian H. to Austria. In: orf.at. March 9, 2021, accessed March 9, 2021 . 
176. ^ German Bundestag: Witness describes Wirecard's role in Vienna's political scene .
177. ↑ RP ONLINE: "We're Going to Ibiza": FPÖ scandal causes sales of Vengaboys hit to explode. Retrieved May 22, 2019 . 
178. ↑ Christopher Chirvi: We're Going to Ibiza: Strache scandal brings the Vengaboys back to the charts | svz.de. Retrieved May 22, 2019 . 
179. ↑ The most fatal thing about the Strache video: The Vengaboys are back in the charts. Retrieved May 22, 2019 . 
180. ↑ Vengaboys appear in front of the Federal Chancellery on Thursday - derStandard.at. Retrieved May 28, 2019 . 
181. ↑ Red Bull is winner in Ibiza-Gate . In: The Standard . May 27, 2019, p. 11 ( Online [accessed May 28, 2019]).
182. ↑ Conrad Seidl : Snacking on Ibiza Gate . In: The Standard . July 13, 2019, p. 16 ( online [accessed July 14, 2019]).
183. ↑ Böhmermann and Schalko film "Ibiza Affair" orf.at, November 30, 2019, accessed November 30, 2019.
184. ↑ Strache coined “Ibiza”, “b'soffene G'schicht” . In: The Standard . December 6, 2019, p.  7 ( derstandard.at [accessed December 6, 2019]).
185. ↑ Jelinek's “Ibiza” piece is premiered. In: Vienna. ORF.at . February 6, 2020, accessed February 6, 2020 . 
186. ↑ Dionysus on the flat screen: Jelinek on Ibiza. In: oe1. ORF.at . February 6, 2020, accessed February 6, 2020 . 
187. ↑ Sky is planning a series for "Ibiza Scandal". ORF, accessed on December 17, 2020 . 
188. ↑ Lust and Ofczarek in the series "Ibiza Affair". In: ORF.at . April 22, 2021, accessed April 22, 2021 . 
189. ↑ According to the media report, employees of the Chancellery destroyed data carriers - "Soko Ibiza" determined. In: spiegel.de. July 20, 2019, accessed July 23, 2019 . 
190. ↑ WKStA: No connection between "Ibiza video" and shredding. In: orf.at . September 2, 2019, accessed September 2, 2019.
191. ↑ Daniel Bischof: Corruption hunter sees "unobjective attacks". Retrieved September 12, 2020 . 
192. ↑ Editor: Schreddergate - The secret instruction and the cell phone of the short shredder. In: zackzack.at. Retrieved September 12, 2020 (German). 
193. ↑ Heated spirits in the "Ibiza" survey. In: orf.at . April 14, 2021, accessed April 15, 2021 . 
194. ↑ Andreas Rüesch: The Ibiza affair continues to smolder . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . 22 August 2019, p. 5 ( nzz.ch [accessed on November 26, 2019] review).

Literature Bastian Obermayer , Frederik Obermaier : The Ibiza affair. Inside views of a scandal . With a foreword by Armin Wolf . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2019, ISBN 978-3-462-05407-1 .

1. ↑ p. 32
2. ^ Meeting with the oligarch's niece , pp. 161–165
3. ↑ p. 226

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Detectives do not require a state license in Germany and are only checked for their reliability; it is a trade that requires supervision in accordance with Section 38 Paragraph 1 Clause 1 Clause 2 Trade Regulations. In Austria it is a regulated trade, which requires an official qualification test and special reliability. The companion of the decoy Julian H. is an Austrian citizen who is the managing director of a GmbH registered in Munich that deals with detective work. See also professional detectives here in the article.