A police officer in Vienna will stand trial this fall on charges of spreading Nazi propaganda, while her male colleague implicated in the same scandal escaped with only a disciplinary fine, reported by 5 Minuten.
Prosecutors confirmed that the officer is accused of forwarding messages containing National Socialist and antisemitic content through private chats. Her case is scheduled for hearing on October 1 at the Eisenstadt Regional Court.
Authorities stumbled upon the pair by chance. In September of last year, investigators probing Austria’s far-right scene seized the phone of a civilian. The device contained a trove of extremist messages, some laced with Nazi ideology. When investigators combed through the data, they discovered that the Vienna officer had been in contact with the phone’s owner and had allegedly passed along several of the messages. Internal police inquiries later revealed that another officer from a precinct in Vienna’s Penzing district had also circulated similar material.
Both officers were initially suspended, and disciplinary proceedings were launched against them alongside criminal complaints under Austria’s strict Prohibition Act, which bans Nazi propaganda. The cases, however, have taken sharply different turns.
The female officer now faces formal indictment for “re-engagement in National Socialism,” a serious offense under Austrian law that can carry prison time. Her trial is expected to draw public attention at a moment when concerns over far-right influence in Austria’s institutions are mounting.
Her male colleague, by contrast, saw his criminal case dismissed and his suspension lifted. Still, his actions did not go entirely unpunished: police officials confirmed he received a monetary penalty in disciplinary court, though the exact sum was not disclosed.
The contrasting outcomes underscore the delicate line Austrian authorities tread as they confront extremism within their own ranks.
