The public prosecutor’s office will not appeal against the release of the four suspects in the case of the alleged gang rape in Linz. Based on the current status of the investigation, the authority does not initially see any chance of a reassessment by the detention and legal protection judge.
The astonishment was great when the responsible detention and legal protection judge of the Linz Regional Court announced last Thursday that the detention imposed on three Afghans (each 15 years) and one Iranian (14) would be lifted. The quartet was among the urgent Arrested on suspicion of having raped a student (16) together in a stairwell near the Linz train station for more than an hour. The alleged victim had identified the four migrants on photos. However, the statements made during their first questioning are said to be partly contradictory and incomplete. Victims and perpetrators knew each other. The suspects claim that the sex with the girl was carried out by mutual consent. The schoolgirl is also said to have visited one of the Afghans at home beforehand and to have contacted him by telephone the day before the crime. No scenes of violence were visible on video recordings of a meeting at the train station. Little chance of success The Linz public prosecutor’s office had three days to lodge a complaint against the quartet’s release, but decided not to do so. “No chance of success,” explains authority spokesman Reinhard Steiner. The suspicion remains, but for the time being one would like to wait for an adversarial questioning of the student.
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