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IMMIGRATION

Possible charges for refugee convoy activists

Austrian activists who took part in a “refugee convoy” and drove cars into Hungary to pick up refugees and help them reach Austria and Germany could face criminal charges of people smuggling, according to a report in Der Standard newspaper.

Possible charges for refugee convoy activists
Volunteers drove to collect refugees who were stuck in Hungary. Photo: APA

Der Standard reports that at least three people who took part in the convoy on September 6th are the subject of an investigation by the Vienna public prosecutor’s office. Around 150 cars were driven to Budapest and Györ in Hungary, where they picked up refugees and drove them back to Austria for no charge.

The Linz public prosecutor is investigating another citizen initiative to help refugees – an online platform called ‘fluchthelfer.in’ which was launched in Germany and gives people tips on how to help refugees without facing prosecution. The site’s owners could face charges of encouraging people to commit crimes and disobey the law, and if convicted they would face a maximum of two years in prison. Authorities in Germany are also looking into the case.

Michael Platzer, an envoy of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS), said at a meeting at the Institute of Criminology in Vienna that the state is forcing people to break the law as it has made legal passage for refugees impossible.

He argued that the law regarding people smuggling should be abolished, as it only serves “to drive smugglers’ prices up”. Recent proposals to tighten asylum laws in Austria – which would make it harder for family members to join recognised refugees – will drive more people into the arms of people smugglers, he added.

Vienna defence lawyer Joseph Phillip Bischof believes that the law is often used to disproportionately punish people. It states that someone is guilty of people smuggling if they have benefited from transporting someone, “but this could be something as small as an invitation to lunch” Bischof said.

However, Gerald Tatzgern, head of the government’s Anti-Smuggling Unit said that his department is only “concerned with the serious cases” and that the priority is to protect refugees.

Criminal law expert Andreas Schloenhardt told Der Standard that many people smugglers are in fact just doing what the government should be doing – giving refugees safe passage. He is in favour of targeted resettlement and the establishment of UN-supervised transit camps.

FAR-RIGHT

Germany issues entry ban to Austrian far-right activist Sellner

Radical Austrian nationalist Martin Sellner has been banned from entering Germany, it emerged on Tuesday, days after he was deported from Switzerland.

Germany issues entry ban to Austrian far-right activist Sellner

Sellner, a leader of Austria’s white pride Identitarian Movement, posted a video of himself on X, formerly Twitter, reading out a letter he said was from the city of Potsdam.

A spokeswoman for the city authorities confirmed to AFP that an EU citizen had been served with a “ban on their freedom of movement in Germany”.

The person can no longer enter or stay in Germany “with immediate effect” and could be stopped by police or deported if they try to enter the country, the spokeswoman said, declining to name the individual for privacy reasons.

READ ALSO: Who is Austria’s far-right figurehead banned across Europe?

“We have to show that the state is not powerless and will use its legitimate means,” Mike Schubert, the mayor of Potsdam, said in a statement.

Sellner caused an uproar in Germany after allegedly discussing the Identitarian concept of “remigration” with members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) at a meeting in Potsdam in November.

Reports of the meeting sparked a huge wave of protests against the AfD, with tens of thousands of Germans attending demonstrations across the country.

READ ALSO:

Swiss police said Sunday they had prevented a hundred-strong far-right gathering due to be addressed by Sellner, adding that he had been arrested and deported.

The Saturday meeting had been organised by the far-right Junge Tat group, known for its anti-immigration and anti-Islamic views.

The group is also a proponent of the far-right white nationalist Great Replacement conspiracy theory espoused by Sellner’s Identitarian Movement.

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