[ad_1]
The intelligence service and the judicial authorities did not realize that the next responsible was trying to buy ammunition and deceiving the surveillance officers. For the coalition, the dilemma between the rights of freedom and the fight against terrorism hides potential conflicts.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer is under considerable pressure in parliament.
The atmosphere in central Vienna couldn’t be more diverse: People lit thousands of candles at the crime scene on Thursday and stopped in front of makeshift memorials. The marks of the forensic officers can be seen everywhere on the ground, including at Morzinplatz, where on Monday evening police shot the killer, who previously killed four people and injured 22. A single candle burns for him, and some young people. they gathered there, suspiciously guarded by half a dozen officers.
Minister of the Interior vs Minister of the Interior
Parliament is in an extraordinary session a few hundred meters away, and the politicians are engaged in a violent exchange of blows. The opposition Freedom Party (FPÖ) had ended the truce when Herbert Kickl, his former interior minister, went public with heavy accusations: the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Defense from Terrorism (BVT), who is subordinate to the Minister of the Interior Karl Nehammer, had not acted, despite clear indications of an immediate danger by the author. Kickl’s call for Nehammer’s resignation was also followed by politicians from other parties.
Representatives of different religions commemorate the victims of the terrorist attack.
Nehammer reacted angrily to his predecessor’s allegations and found he was endangering the ongoing investigation with rumors. Furthermore, during Kickl’s all-time tenure, the BVT was greatly weakened with a dubious raid and politically motivated personnel raids.
However, the Conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) politician had to admit that the allegations are not unfounded. Nehammer has to endure the delicate question of whether the attack could have been prevented. The killer, a convicted Islamist who was paroled early in December 2019 after serving two-thirds of his prison sentence, unsuccessfully attempted to purchase ammunition in Slovakia in July. The authorities became suspicious and informed the Austrian authorities via Europol.
The fact that state security agents had not acted against the 20-year-old threat for nearly four months was explained by police on Thursday with the difficulty of establishing the identity of the Austrian with Albanian-North-Macedonian roots. An observation is legally possible only if this has been clarified beyond doubt. Viennese police chief Gerhard Pürstl gave the Slovaks some of the blame, as they were slow to respond to inquiries. “We proceeded to the best of our knowledge and belief,” said Pürstl – and in doing so he followed the instinct that the Austrian authorities regularly observe to blame others under pressure.
On Friday, however, Interior Minister Nehammer had to admit that there had been another mishap during the attack: in July, the next terrorist met with various people who had been monitored by the Vienna Constitution Protection Office for account of Germany. The leader of these had to resign and further consequences on the staff were announced.
Lack of coordination
A commission of inquiry with representatives of the interior and justice ministries should now clarify the errors. For his part, the Green Justice Minister Alma Zadic must ask himself how the terrorist could deceive the institutions under his control, which would have been responsible for his oversight and de-radicalization.
Favorable factors were the poor coordination between the authorities involved and the lack of resources to monitor people in danger; In 2019, the Ministry of Interior estimated their number in Austria at 320. In order to improve coordination, the reintroduction of the conferences on the case of the security police, which were abolished by the interior minister FPÖ Kickl, is under discussion. where the various departments exchange information.
It is largely undisputed that the BVT is in urgent need of reform. The FPÖ is not to blame for this alone, because the problems in the news service, which had been dominated by the ÖVP for decades, were already big before Kickl. Soft hats need to be given additional skills, for example in digital surveillance. Additionally, pre-trial detention for people at risk, which was controversially discussed in 2019, is now back on the table. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described them in parliament as “time bombs for our society”.
Predictable conflicts
The introduction of such preventive custody would require a constitutional amendment, for which the government also needed the support of part of the opposition. The Greens have only grudgingly agreed to their inclusion in the coalition agenda and also take a much more liberal line than their conservative governmental partner when it comes to fundamental rights and data protection. The dilemmas between freedom rights and the fight against terrorism, which Austria will have to face in the near future, have considerable potential for conflict, including for the coalition.
Source link
