“He stuck the knife in himself,” a Viennese man said to the police, and this version remains in court. He stabbed a Chechen in the chest and killed him in a scuffle. The jury decides in self-defense – even if it’s exaggerated…
“Be careful, knife,” a witness shouted to the victim. But the warning came too late, as the 38-year-old stabbed him in the chest. Immediate first aid measures and an emergency operation were no longer able to help the man; he died in hospital nine days later. Scramble at Margaretengurtel subway station But why did the Viennese man, now accused of murder, pull out his folding knife? This is not clear in the trial in the Vienna regional court either. There would have been a dispute between the defendant and the killed Chechen – none of the witnesses can say what triggered it. The argument turned into a fight at the kebab stand at the U4 Margaretengurtel station: the victim hit the 38-year-old and knocked him to the ground. So he pulled out a small black knife and held it protectively in front of him. “Because the victim wanted to throw himself at him, he rammed the knife into himself,” is how the public prosecutor describes the Viennese’s version in the indictment. Which he also represents in court, because he would have been attacked, he was the actual victim – him I feared for his life. The Chechen would have attacked him so aggressively. “When I held the knife in front of me, he rushed towards me at the same moment,” the defendant describes to the judge. The defense lawyers Manfred Arbacher-Stöger and Lukas Hruby therefore speak of a self-defense situation. The witnesses also reported in unison about a scuffle between the two men before the Viennese pulled out the folding knife. Even a friend of the victim leaves the hearing room after being questioned as a witness with the words: “He is innocent.” Surveillance video brings clarity And the jury also believes that: they rate the fatal stab in the chest by the 38-year-old as an excess of self-defense. So there was a situation in which he had to defend himself – but he exceeded the justified level of defense. The Viennese man is acquitted of the murder charge – which carries a penalty of up to life imprisonment. He received a comparatively mild sentence for grossly negligent homicide – after all, a knife was involved -: four years in prison – not legally binding.
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