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Prosecutors are seeking to lift the immunity of the far-right leader in Austria to investigate him for allegedly giving false testimony, a parliament spokesman said on Thursday.
Herbert Kickl’s far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) won parliamentary elections for the first time in September but has found itself isolated without partners to form a government.
Prosecutors sent a request to parliament last week to lift Kickl’s immunity, a parliament spokesman told AFP.
According to the request, they want to investigate him for allegedly giving false testimony in April to a parliamentary committee probing whether public funds were improperly used under past governments.
A parliament committee will meet soon to discuss the request, according to a source close to the matter.
The FPOe said it would reject the lifting of Kickl’s immunity, dismissing the request as a “political manoeuvre with the aim of damaging Herbert Kickl personally and the FPOe as a whole.”
In a statement, cited by the Austrian news agency APA, the party added Kickl has not given false testimony.
In April prosecutors already launched an investigation into Kickl and several former government members on suspicion of embezzling public money to pay for adverts in return for alleged favourable coverage.
The FPOe has dismissed the investigation.
In late 2021, a major media graft scandal erupted in the Alpine country, with conservative former chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his inner circle accused of using public funds to pay for polls skewed to boost his image.
In a separate case, a court in February found Kurz guilty of giving false testimony to a parliamentary inquiry, handing him an eight-month suspended jail sentence. Kurz is appealing the verdict.
jza/