Wilhelm Gratzl

Wilhelm Gratzl (* 19th or 20th century) was an Austrian who fell victim to a miscarriage of justice in the post-war period .

case

In 1956 Gratzl was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for an alleged murder in the Krems an der Donau district in April 1946 . "The only 'proof' of Gratzl's guilt was the testimony of his fellow inmate Franz Dürnecker, who testified in court that Gratzl had confessed to him." After Gratzl had contacted journalists Gustav Adolf Neumann on December 16, 1957 from the Stein penal institution for men , the case was reopened. Neumann sat down with Gratzl's defense attorney Dr. English speaking and obtained information from Interpol . It was found that Stanislaus Starschinsky (characteristic feature: gold tooth), a Russian who was brought to Lviv by the Russian occupation forcesDeserter who committed murder. Gratzl was released from prison in March 1958, following “the retrial initiated by Gustaf Adolf Neumann”.

meaning

According to a statement by the Austrian lawyer and politician Otto Tschadek, the Gratzl case was one of four cases of judicial errors (alongside the cases of Alois Manninger , Rudolf Rechberger and Franz Thiel ), which shook "confidence ... in [Austrian] jurisdiction " in the post-war period and contributed to preventing the reintroduction of the death penalty in Austria.

Individual evidence

↑ Hans Martin Sutermeister : Summa Iniuria: A Pitaval of errors of justice . Part 2: False recognition. Elfenau, Basel 1976, pp. 209-210.
↑ "Urgent inquiry regarding the prevention of judicial errors" (PDF; 1.8 MB) by MPs Franz Olah , (Otto?) Kranzlmayr, (Rudolf?) Marchner and comrades to the Federal Minister of Justice. National Council VIII GP. 54th session, March 5, 1958. Shorthand transcript. Page 2474–2484.

personal data
SURNAME	Gratzl, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Austrian victim of a miscarriage of justice
DATE OF BIRTH	19th century or 20th century

[1] Hans Martin Sutermeister : Summa Iniuria: A Pitaval of errors of justice . Part 2: False recognition. Elfenau, Basel 1976, pp. 209-210.

[steno-2] "Urgent inquiry regarding the prevention of judicial errors" (PDF; 1.8 MB) by MPs Franz Olah , (Otto?) Kranzlmayr, (Rudolf?) Marchner and comrades to the Federal Minister of Justice. National Council VIII GP. 54th session, March 5, 1958. Shorthand transcript. Page 2474–2484.