Ermittlungen nach Attacke auf Bürgermeister von Vösendorf

Following the attack on Hannes Koza, the mayor of Vösendorf, an investigation is underway into suspicions of bodily harm and dangerous threats against an unknown person.

The city council meeting scheduled for today, Wednesday, will mainly be monitored by plainclothes officers and uniformed troops, according to police spokesman Raimund Schwaigerlehner. The mayor of Vösendorf, Hannes Koza, was attacked and threatened with death on Tuesday evening.

Mayor of Vösendorf attacked on his way home

The mayor was attacked in the castle park on his way home. The ÖVP politician was punched in the face and threatened that he would not survive Wednesday’s city council meeting. Koza filed a complaint and went to the hospital for X-ray examination. The mayor had been in the news several times at the beginning of this year. In May he won the early municipal elections in Vösendorf by a large margin. The starting point of the vote was investigations against Koza; investigations for breach of trust, sedition and abuse of office were dropped in March.

As regards the allegation of forgery of documents, it was a diversionary tactic. The local chief is said to have had the costs resulting from a legal dispute reimbursed by the municipality after a tweet and to ‘correct’ a note from a lawyer himself. The amount of 1,129.32 euros would be stated as consultancy costs for the purchase of a new fire truck. Koza refunded the amount.

ÖVP NÖ sees “low point of political culture” after attack on mayor

Matthias Zauner, state manager of the People’s Party NÖ, spoke on Wednesday about a “nadir in political culture”. The fact that a mayor is physically attacked “has no place in a democracy”. After the attack, Zauner also called for a careful choice of words. In the evening, ÖVP leader Chancellor Karl Nehammer also expressed his “horror,” as he explained on social media: “The active exercise of force is completely unacceptable. I hope the perpetrators are found and held accountable.”

While there have been recent increases in attacks on politicians and campaign workers in Germany, such incidents are rare in Austria. However, the murder of a mayor in Mühlviertel at the end of October caused a shock. The background to the double murder was hunting disputes.

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.