The former Austrian vice chancellor and ex-leader of Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party went on trial Tuesday for corruption charges at a Vienna court.
Heinz-Christian Strache is accused of trying to change laws in order to favor a private hospital in exchange for donations.
Prosecutors allege that Strache accepted a 10,000-euro ($11,850) donation for his party in exchange for a legal amendment that would have benefitted the donor’s private hospital by bringing it under a public funding umbrella. The trial, which opened Tuesday, is expected to last for four days.
If convicted, Strache he could face a prison sentence ranging from 6 months to 5 years.
Strache’s legal team announced that neither Strache nor his lawyers will give any public statements during the trial, local media reported.
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Strache was involved in the fall of the previous Austrian government, a coalition of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz s conservative Austrian People’s Party and the Freedom Party.
In May 2019, a video showing then-Freedom Party leader Strache offering favors to a purported Russian investor prompted Kurz to pull the plug on the national government. Strache, who denied any wrongdoing, was later kicked out of the Freedom Party.
