Austrian parliament strips right-wing APS leader of parliamentary immunity

The lower house of the Austrian parliament has lifted parliamentary immunity from the leader of the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party (APS) Herbert Kickl. This is stated in the message of the national council on Wednesday, December 11.

The removal of immunity was requested by the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA). The basis for the request against Kickl was suspicion of giving false testimony at the investigative commission in the "abuse of power" case, Reuters reported.

"In addition, the Vienna prosecutor's office has requested that the prosecution of three other APS MPs, Martin Graf, Harald Stefan and Norbert Nemeth, be authorized," the parliament release said.

In the case of the three other APS politicians, it is a matter of suspicion of violating the law banning Nazi ideology.

On the eve, September 29, in the elections to the Austrian Parliament on the results of processing all ballots, the APS, which opposes anti-Russian sanctions, took the first place. The party received 28.8% of votes. The second place went to the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) with 26.3%, and in third place - the Social Democratic Party of Austria, for which 21.1% of citizens who came to the polls voted.

Austrian political scientist Herbert Martin told Izvestia that the reason for the APS's popularity is its longstanding clear course, which stands out against the uncertainty of other political forces that are controlled from outside. According to the expert, the APS leadership is trying to prove that Vienna should not act at the behest of Anglo-Saxon countries.