Austrian News: Topical Events by a Regional Expert

About the author : Leopold Stoeger comes from Austria and holds a master in international affairs.

26 november 2025 : Murder of a ukrainian crpto-investor (21 years) in Vienna

On 26 november 2025 the austrian police found the body of a young man of 21 years in a burned vehicle (Mercedes S 350D) in the 22^nd district of Vienna. The victim had endured heavy violence leading to its death by suffocation.

The presumed place of the aggression seems to be the underground garage of the Sofitel Hotel in Vienna (2^nd district), where a big puddle of blood was found, and where two suspects had been seen on surveillance cameras. After the attack, there were important debits from the crypto-wallet of the young man, whose total amount was not communicated by the austrian police.  

The daily newspaper Kronenzeitung, by quoting the ukrainian portal « suspilne media », informed subsequently, that the victim is the son of the vice-mayor of the city of Kharkiv.

The two suspects – two Ukrainians, aged 19 and 45  – travelled to Ukraine after the events. Following a Europol mandate they got arrested by the ukrainian police. A large amount of USD bills was found with them.  

According to the austrian press, there will be no extradition of the suspects to Austria, but a demand of the local authorities to confide the legal procedure to Ukraine.  

10 june 2025 : School shooting in Graz (Styria) : 11 fatalities

A homicidal maniak realized a deadly attack in the high school « BORG Dreierschützengasse » in Graz. 10 persons were killed, 12 others wounded. The gunman, who was armed with a pistol and a rifle, committed suicide in the school premises.

What is known about the assailant so far : an Austrian of 21 years, former student of the school. According to the « Salzburger Nachrichten » he was the legal owner of the weapons, but was not allowed to carry them with him – details that show the complexity of the austrian firearms law. During a search of the flat of the man the police found as well a non-operational pipe bomb and a suicide note.

Some newspapers informed that the young man was following a vocational training course with the austrian employment agency, and that educational failure and mobbing in his former school could be motives for the crime.

The austrian chancellor Christian Stocker announced a national mourning of 3 days.  

28 May 2025 : Massage parlour in austrian national bank with a happy ending 

An unauthorized massage service ran during 15 years in Austria’s National Bank in Vienna. The austrian newspaper « Der Standard » informs that the massage lady came each Monday from 9 am to 1 pm. A secretary managed the 30 minute-sessions by a special emailing list that was sent to about 60 employees.

To allow more privacy, the employees installed even a cosy massage cabin. It was situated in a highly sensitive part of the building – besides the money printing hall. « Der Standard « writes « it is said that the massage lady had a permanent entry badge », but fails to give a precise statement on this very important security  question.

There is no information neither, if the so-called « Massage-Gate Vienna » concerned therapeutic or sexual massages. In any way, there was a « happy ending » for the bank employees : none of them was fired !

Infobox : Prostitution in Austria is legal, based on laws such as the ”Wiener Prostitutionsgesetz (Art. 9 etc)”. During the Covid period, there was even a vaccination center in a brothel in Vienna. 

23 January 2025 : Former billionaire René Benko in pre-trial custody

A special division of the Public Attorney’s Office, which is in charge of anti-corruption investigations, is leading an investigation against the former real estate tycoon, who is currency in an insolvency procedure. The attorney suspects the dissimulation of assets. Mister Benko (*1977) was now taken in pre-trial confinement, because of the danger of collusion. The former billionaire from the region Tyrol was transported in the Josefstadt Prison in Vienna, where he will have to stay at least for the next 14 days. The journal Oe24 informed even about the first meal that Mister Benko got in his cell : Fish sticks with rice.

For Benko there is currently the presumption of innocence. In the past, René Benko got already a legally binding sentence.

The Tyrolean had tried together with his fiscal adviser Michael Passer (the former husband of Austria’s former vice-chancellor Susanne Riess-Passer) to bribe the former Prime minister of Croatia Ivo Sanader with 150 000 EUR, in order to influence a fiscal procedure against one of Benko’s subsidiaries abroad. The Supreme Court of Austria confirmed the sentence against Benko in 2014 : a suspended sentence of one year for the attempt of a forbidden intervention.

Still in 2023, René Benko was on Forbes billionaires list, ranked as Austria’s fourth-richest man, with an estimated net-worth of 6 billion USD. The real estate businessman had even bought the Chrysler Building in New York in 2019, together with the investor Aby Rosen. Several former politicians had worked as consultants for the Signa Holding of René Benko, as the former chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer (SPÖ), and the former vice-chancellor Susanne Riess-Passer (FPÖ).

But in march 2024, Benko has disappeared from the Forbes list. Two files for insolvency were opened at the regional court of Innsbruck. One for René Benko under the file number 7 S 16/24y. Another one for the private foundation « Familie Benko Privatstiftung », with the file number 7 S 19/24i. According to an article of Handelsblatt, the creditors claim outstanding debts of 8,6 billion EUR.

19 january 2025 : Regional election in Burgenland

Click here to learn more about the election in the most-eastern region of Austria. 

11 december 2024 : Death of the former politician and entrepreneur Hannes Androsch (86)

From 1970 to 1981 Androsch was – under chancellor Bruno Kreisky – Austria’s youngest minister for finance so far. From 1976 to 1981 the SPÖ-politician was as well vice-chancellor.  Since 1990 Androsch had built a successful Industrial Holding Company.

A detailed portrait of Mister Androsch can be consulted in the blog article about famous austrian celebrities that passed away. 

24 november 2024 : Regional Election in Styria

The FPÖ almost doubled its score from 2019 by reaching 34,76% and becoming the number one party in Styria.

13 october 2024 : Regional Election in Vorarlberg

The region besides Switzerland with its 400 000 inhabitants has voted a new regional parliament. The ÖVP won with 38,3%, before the FPÖ with 28% and the Green Party with 12,4%. 

29 september 2024 : Parliamentary Elections in Austria

The FPÖ won the election with 28,9 % before the ÖVP with 26,3 % and the SPÖ with 21,1 %.

These elections will bring a new parliament, a new government and a new chancellor (The government from 2020 until 2024 was composed by the ÖVP and the Green Party).

8 August 2024 : Terrorism : Taylor Swift Concerts cancelled due to imminent terror threat

A 19 year old Austrian with a migration background from North Macedonia admitted his plan to commit an assault on Taylor Swift fans in Vienna,  according to the austrian police. During a house search in the suspect’s home in Ternitz, the police has found operational explosives, machetes, knives, 21 000 EUR of counterfeit money and a police siren. The suspect has done a vow of fidelity to the ISIS group, according to austrian media. His alleged plan was to kill concert visitors outside the stadium in which the american pop singer should make 3 concerts between the 8th and 10 august 2024.

A second suspect was arrested too : a 17 year old Austrian with a migration background from Turkey and Croatia. This person is an employee of a service company that works in the stadium. He is linked to recent gang wars in Vienna between Syrians and Chechens as well.  A third potential suspect – a 15 year old teenager with turkish roots – was also interrogated by the austrian police.

The decisive informations on the planned terror attack came from a foreign intelligence service. The cancellation of the concerts in Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium was realised by the organiser Barracuda Music.

Follow this blog to get new infos on this topic !   Sources : Die Presse and Der Standard                                   

2 July 2024 : Football : Austria drops out of UEFA European Championship’s Last Sixteen

In Leipzig the austrian national team  lost 1 :2 against Turkey. Already in the first minute Austria’s team, coached by Ralf Rangnick, got a first goal by the turkish centre-back Merih Demiral, who struck a second time in minute 59.  

The striker Michael Gregoritsch (*1994), who plays currently with the german club SC Freiburg, made a goal for Austria in minute 66, but this was not enough to win the match. The turkish scorer Demiral caused some disconcertment too for having used a controversial jubilance gesture : The so-called « grey wolf salute » is considered to be a far right nationalist sign among western observers.  Source :   FAZ 

David Alaba (*1992), Austria’s most famous player, was absent during the UEFA European Championship 2024. Alaba, who plays with Real Madrid since 2021, injured his cruciate ligament in december 2023. According to a physician quoted in the austrian newspaper « Die Presse », the healing of this kind of injury requires 9 to 12 months.  Source : Die Presse 

9 june 2024 : Austria’s Results for the EU Parliament Elections 2024

The results according to the Ministry of the Interior on 11 june 2024 :  Electoral Participation : 56,3%.  

FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) = 25,4% and 6 seats  /  ÖVP (Austrian People’s Party) = 24,5% and 5 seats

SPÖ (Social Democratic Party of Austria) = 23,2% and 5 seats  / Die Grünen (Green Party) = 11,1% and 2 seats

NEOS (The new Austria) = 10,1% and 2 seats  /  KPÖ (Communist Party) = 3% and 0 seats / DNA Party = 2,7 % and 0 seats

Source : Ministry of the Interior,  as well interesting for you : EU Parliament Election Results in Germany     

15 may 2024 : Incest father Josef Fritzl (89) wants to get ouf of prison

Josef Fritzl imprisoned his own daughter for 24 years in the basement of his house in Amstetten, where he fathered seven children with her. One of the children died in the cellar dungeon. In april 2008 Fritzl was arrested by the police, in 2009 he was sentenced to life in prison. In 2024 he was placed from the forensic prison division, where he had lived so far, to a regular penal department. The next aim for his lawyer is to obtain occasional excursions for the detainee outside of the prison. From 2025 on Fritzl could even get a conditional disimprisonment.   Source : Oe24   

February 2024 : Ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz sentenced to 8 months on probation (not legally binding)

Sebastian Kurz (born 1986) was Austria’s chancellor from 2017 to 2019, and from 2020 to 2021 for the party ÖVP. In february 2024 he was convicted for false testimony during an investigation committee of the austrian parliament concerning the so-called « Ibiza Affair ». This affair concerns controversial statements given by the politician Heinz Christian Strache (party FPÖ) during a sting operation in a Finca in Ibiza. The publication of Strache’s statements led to the collapse of the government coalition between the ÖVP and the FPÖ in 2019. Kurz, who is presumed innocent for the moment, has announced to fight his condemnation by an appeal.  Source :  Die Presse

Additional interesting newsfeeds for you :                

News from Germany   

News from France   

News from the European Union  

Share this article with your friends :