VIENNA — A court in Vienna on Monday acquitted former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of making false statements to a parliamentary inquiry into alleged corruption in his government, reversing a verdict from last year in which Kurz was given a suspended prison sentence.
Judges at Vienna's upper state court threw out Kurz's conviction after a short appeal hearing. The court found that ''the objective offense of giving false evidence was not fulfilled.''
The case centered on Kurz's testimony to an inquiry that focused on the coalition he led from 2017, when his conservative Austrian People's Party formed a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party, until its collapse in 2019.
Prosecutors accused the 38-year-old of having given false evidence in June 2020 regarding his role in the setting up of a holding company, OeBAG, which administers the state's role in some companies, and the appointment of former close confidant Thomas Schmid to its leadership.
In February 2024, Kurz was found guilty of making false statements about the appointment of the company's supervisory board, though not about that of Schmid. He was given an eight-month suspended sentence.
That verdict followed a four-month trial. It was the first time in more than 30 years that a former Austrian chancellor had stood trial.
''What came out is what I have always said — namely, that I did not tell untruths to the parliamentary inquiry,'' Kurz said in a brief statement to reporters outside the courtroom after Monday's decision.
''I now have a long time in (legal) proceedings behind me, and to be honest I'd like to set out my position in detail, but I ask for your understanding that I'm going home to family and my two children first," Kurz added.
