A Facebook comment containing strong language has led to legal consequences for a woman from Vienna. Towa Lemberger is due to appear before the Vienna Regional Criminal Court on Monday. The plaintiff is an influencer and pro-Palestine activist who feels offended by her remarks. The timing of the trial is also significant: on this day, Austria commemorates the November pogroms of 1938.
The incident was triggered by a post by the activist last July. In it, he accused Israel of genocide and called for support for Gaza. Lemberger responded with a lengthy Facebook post. In it, she described him, amongst other things, as a “complete idiot” and “stupid”, reports the newspaper Krone.
The Viennese woman makes no secret of her choice of words. “Perhaps my words weren’t particularly polite,” she admits. She says she reacted spontaneously because she was outraged by the sweeping accusation of genocide against Israel, whilst, in her view, the massacres carried out by Hamas were being downplayed.
Lemberger has just become a grandmother. Her father survived the Mauthausen concentration camp. She herself witnessed the attack by Hamas terrorists in Israel on October 7, 2023, at first hand.
Her defence lawyer, Klaus Ainedter, nevertheless expects a guilty verdict. “Based on previous case law, we must assume a guilty verdict despite having strong arguments on our side,” he explains. For Ainedter, this is about more than just the insult to a single person. He criticises the increasing number of private lawsuits, which he says place an additional burden on the courts. Whilst the internet should not be a legal vacuum, the lawyer argues that action is needed regarding lawsuits of this kind. He alleges that they are brought for financial gain.
The claimant himself is also a controversial figure: he described Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger as ‘Beate Genocide Cleaner’ and, according to the report, got off with a diversion order. Now he sees himself as the victim of an insult.
Lemberger also intends to use the trial to draw attention to the consequences of such proceedings. She wants to protect others from being pressured or silenced by what she considers to be unjustified lawsuits.