Austria’s FPÖ Chief Wins Court Case Against “Democracy Platform Austria”
The “Democracy Platform Austria” had published a video in the run-up to the September 29, 2024, National Council election, which directly compared Herbert Kickl, the FPÖ chief, to Adolf Hitler. The controversial video initially displayed Kickl’s portrait, which was then overlaid with Hitler’s image. The provocative question that followed read: “Do you want to vote for someone like that?”
Kickl’s lawyer, Christoph Völk, strongly condemned the video, calling it “inconceivably tasteless.” He argued that a democratically elected politician should not be forced to accept being equated with Hitler, “the greatest mass murderer in history.”
The judge also expressed criticism of the video in her verdict, emphasizing that Adolf Hitler stood for the abolition of democracy, genocide, the extermination of Jews, and many other atrocities.
The immediate overlay of Kickl’s image with Hitler’s created an unmistakable impression of equating the two – a charge that is not legally sustainable, the judge ruled.
The “Democracy Platform Austria” justified the video by stating that Kickl’s repeated use of the term “People’s Chancellor” had a “problematic background.” In a statement, the organization claimed that the normalization of such terms was a “highly worrying precursor to extreme and antidemocratic actions.”
Kickl had frequently used the term during the election campaign, which prompted his political opponents to draw historical parallels with Nazi rhetoric. However, the judge pointed out that the term itself was not the subject of the case and that the focus was solely on the video in question.
The court awarded Kickl a compensation of €5,000. Whether the amount would be sufficient to compensate for the damage to Kickl’s reputation, his lawyer left open. The defender of the “Democracy Platform Austria” announced that an appeal would be filed, making the verdict not yet final.