Court acquits former Chancellor Kurz of charges

Austria's former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was acquitted today of charges related to a corruption scandal that brought down his government six years ago.

The so-called "Ibiza Scandal" focused on Heinz-Christian Strache, former leader of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), which was the junior partner in Kurz's government at the time.

In a secret video recording made in Ibiza in 2019, Strache promised the niece of an alleged oligarch future state contracts in exchange for support.

A previous court ruled that Kurz had misled a parliamentary committee in 2020 by downplaying his role in important personnel decisions at the state-owned holding company Obag, and gave him an eight-month suspended prison sentence.

In today's appeals ruling, the Supreme Court said that Kurz's answers at the time should not be considered false. The court said he did not appear to have provided complete and conclusive evidence.

Kurz's lawyer argued that the former chancellor was interrupted while answering the crucial question and was therefore unable to fully testify.

Kurz expressed relief after being acquitted of the charges. "I was exposed to an excessive amount of controversy," he said.

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