Austrian FPÖ ordered to pay second €3,000 fine for false Ukraine money-box claim
A Viennese court ordered the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) to pay another €3,000 and retract a false allegation that foreign minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger delivered tax money in suitcases to Ukraine.
A criminal court in Vienna confirmed that the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) must pay a second €3,000 compensation for repeating a defamatory statement that foreign minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger carried tax funds in suitcases to Ukraine. The judgment also obliges the party to publicly withdraw the claim on its “FPÖ TV” YouTube channel. This ruling follows an earlier decision by the Oberlandesgericht, which imposed the same fine for the identical accusation.
The settlement was reached in a case before the Wiener Landesgericht für Strafsachen against the FPÖ parliamentary club, while two related civil lawsuits remain unresolved. NEOS general secretary Douglas Hoyos praised the outcome, saying the FPÖ finally feels the consequences of spreading fake news and should end such campaigns.
Why it matters
It demonstrates Austrian courts enforcing penalties for political misinformation and defamation.
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