Graz Shooting: Parents of Victims Want to Sue the State

The parents of seven students killed in the June rampage in Graz want to proceed with a liability lawsuit against the Republic of Austria. They are represented by Graz lawyer Karin Prutsch-Lang, who plans to send a corresponding letter to the Financial Procuratorate in the coming days, she announced in a press release on Tuesday. The circumstances of the perpetrator's possession of weapons are likely to be decisive.

Demand Letter Already Prepared

The 21-year-old former student, who killed nine students and a teacher, legally possessed his weapons. And this, despite having been deemed unfit for armed service for psychological reasons during the military assessment. This is where lawyer Prutsch-Lang is focusing. "By not forwarding a known, security-relevant report and citing 'data protection reasons', the military prevented the weapons authority from obtaining a complete picture of the applicant's psychological suitability. This omission constitutes a culpable breach of official duty," states the demand letter, which is already prepared on the lawyer's desk.

Two signatures from the parents are still missing from the final version of the letter. The lawyer expects these in the coming days. After that, the letter will go to the Financial Procuratorate, effectively the lawyer of the Republic, she confirmed on Tuesday evening in response to media reports.

District Authority Test

The lawsuit is not only based on the military report. It also concerns the district authority test: The issuance of a gun ownership card by the district administrative authority was also "illegal and culpable." Because in the decision, they relied "exclusively on an obviously unsuitable multiple-choice test." They failed to conduct further investigations or even critically engage with the test.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.