"Not every tragedy is a crime" Corona vaccination opponents acquitted after death of threatened doctor
The defendant maintained his innocence during the trial.
Image: dpa
The first trial is over. However, a second author of death threats against the doctor has not yet been identified.
Image: dpa (Archivfoto)
The defendant maintained his innocence during the trial.
Image: dpa
The first trial is over. However, a second author of death threats against the doctor has not yet been identified.
Image: dpa (Archivfoto)
Was a Covid vaccination advocate driven to her death? Or did two militant personalities tragically clash? Now there is an acquittal. But the case is not yet closed.
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- The Upper Austrian doctor Lisa-Maria Kellermayr committed suicide in July 2022 at the age of 36.
- She had publicly spoken out in favor of coronavirus vaccinations and made negative comments to skeptics.
- A German opponent of coronavirus measures, who had been accused in Austria of driving the doctor to her death with his threats, has now been acquitted. The verdict is not yet final.
"I am of the opinion that not every tragedy is a crime and not every victim has a perpetrator," said the lawyer for the German, who was charged in Austria with making dangerous threats against a doctor. The Wels District Court largely followed this reasoning. It acquitted the opponent of the coronavirus measures from Upper Bavaria of the accusation that he had helped drive the vaccination advocate to her death by threatening her.
The defendant could not have foreseen that the Upper Austrian doctor Lisa-Maria Kellermayr would commit suicide in July 2022 at the age of 36, the judge argued. The verdict is not yet final.
The public prosecutor had accused the man from Bavaria of contributing to the increasing fear and despair of the dedicated country doctor. In emails and Twitter messages, he had written to Kellermayr from the beginning of 2022 that he would bring "creatures" like Kellermayr before a "people's tribunal", put them in prison and watch them with like-minded people. Kellermayr committed suicide in July 2022.
Second hate poster not yet caught
However, the court case revealed a more complex picture. Kellermayr had not only received threatening messages from the man with a criminal record. A second author sent her extremely brutally worded death and torture threats. The authorities are still searching for this writer, who went by the name "Claas".
The hate messages were triggered by a Twitter post by Kellermayr in which she falsely accused opponents of the coronavirus measures of blocking the entrance to a clinic during a demonstration. Kellermayr was known to the public through her media interviews and online posts in which she promoted the benefits of Covid vaccinations, made negative comments about vaccination skeptics and reported on the threats against her.
In describing her threatening situation and the alleged lack of help from the authorities, the doctor had "not always been so precise" with the truth and had also exaggerated, the judge found.
Feelings of powerlessness among vaccination opponents and supporters
The court was unable to determine with certainty whether Kellermayr mainly felt threatened by "Claas" and whether the defendant also played a part in this. The 61-year-old argued that he had not threatened the doctor, but had contacted her to fight against the threat of compulsory vaccination.
"I had to compensate for my powerlessness through activism. I was actually trapped in fear," he told the court. However, it is undisputed that Kellermayr also suffered from increasing anxiety. She hired a security guard at her practice because of the threats and had an expensive safe room set up.
"It was supposed to be a place where I could come to rest," she wrote about her practice. "A place of security became a high-security wing," she added in the notes that were analyzed after her death.
Accused between regret and aggression
Before the verdict, the defendant expressed his "honest regret" over the doctor's death. "I was shaken by the death at the time," he said. At the same time, however, he also questioned the threat to the doctor. "A grip on reality was not her strength," said the accused.
A psychiatric report and other evidence showed that Kellermayr was not only suffering from the threats. She had been struggling with mental health problems for some time and also had financial problems due to the expensive security measures. "It was just a complete threat picture. It just all came together," said the judge, summarizing Kellermayr's situation.
