By Francois Murphy
VIENNA (Reuters) – Austrian prosecutors have asked parliament to lift far-right leader Herbert Kickl’s immunity over an allegation that he committed perjury testifying to a parliamentary committee, the office of the lower house’s speaker confirmed on Thursday.
News magazine Profil reported earlier on Thursday that the Central Prosecutors’ Office for Economic Crimes and Corruption (WKStA) had sent the request to the office of speaker Walter Rosenkranz, who is from Kickl’s Freedom Party.
Profil said the request followed a statement sent to prosecutors by Andreas Hanger, who was then a lawmaker from Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservative People’s Party, alleging Kickl had lied about a range of issues including advertisements in print media paid for by the Freedom Party (FPO).
“I can confirm that the request has been received by parliament,” a spokesman for Rosenkranz said, declining to comment further.
A spokesperson for the FPO referred Reuters to a report by news agency APA quoting a statement by the parliamentary party as saying Kickl had spoken the truth in his testimony in April.
The WKStA cannot open an investigation unless Kickl’s parliamentary immunity as a lawmaker is lifted. A spokesperson for the WKStA said that it was not investigating Kickl.
The FPO came first in September’s parliamentary election with around 29% of the vote and now has the most seats in parliament. Since a party needs to control a majority of seats to govern and no other party was willing to govern with it, three other parties are now in coalition talks.
Speaker Rosenkranz must now submit the request to the lower house’s immunity committee, which will then draw up a report before the chamber decides whether Kickl’s immunity should be lifted, Profil said.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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