The investigation into the Pilnacek case begins in a fog. A milky veil lies over the fields of Rossatz, a wine village on the Danubejust under an hour’s drive west of Vienna. It was here on the morning of October 20, 2023 that the body of Christian Pilnacek, a top official in the Ministry of Justice and once one of the most powerful figures in Austria, was found in a branch of the river.
Back then, two and a half years ago in the fall, his power had waned. The Green Justice Minister Alma Zadic had already suspended him in February 2021 – he is said to have passed on official secrets. His death did not let go of the Republic. The circumstances were too unusual, the question marks surrounding the investigation were too big: the drunken Pilnacek was a wrong-way driver that evening police stopped, then picked up by a friend and taken to Rossatz. There he is said to have committed suicide, which is what the police quickly determined – and quickly handed Pilnacek’s cell phone to his wife, who, according to her own statement, destroyed it with a Bunsen burner.
Just one of many questionable details. Since then, a number of reports have been made about the case, ex-Green Party member Peter Pilz wrote a bestseller about it – and has been regularly sitting in the courtroom for it ever since.
On this uncomfortable Wednesday morning, Rossatz is the destination of an unusual excursion by the National Council: the 13 members of the Pilnacek investigative committee have arrived, most of them in a bus rented by parliament, to take a look around. Accompanied by dozens of camera teams, they march from the village center towards the water, past police officers, along the snow-covered stairway that Pilnacek must also have walked on the night of his death.
The Freedom Party speaks of the “Deep State”
The wet cold, the thick fog, there is an overdose of symbolism in the air that fits this day well. The gain in knowledge will be limited. But the media is there, the images are correct. Especially from the perspective of the right-wing populist FPÖ, which set up the committee. She uses the open questions in the Pilnacek case to create a general accusation, a narrative about the “deep state”, dominated by the ÖVPwhich allowed the powerful secret keeper Christian Pilnacek, or at least his data carriers, to be put aside.
The ÖVP, on the other hand, fears, and similar things are being heard behind closed doors from MPs from other parties, that the “Committee of Inquiry into the Clarification of Political Influence in Investigations into the Pilnacek Case”, as it is called in its entirety, is doing little to shed light. But it has degenerated into a political show.
National Council President Walter Rosenkranz from the FPÖ plays the tour guide in Rossatz, equipped with rubber boots and a hunter’s hat. He also chairs the committee. “This isn’t supposed to be a CSI,” he says, alluding to the American television series about a team of forensic scientists. Rather, the MPs should get an impression of the conditions on site. This can be seen as a direct reaction to the criticism from ÖVP man Andreas Hanger, who had already said in advance that they would only stand around and freeze for a few minutes before going home. He doesn’t think much of the trip: “It has nothing to do with parliamentary control. This is Soko Donau.”
Hanger, however, is also one of those MPs who have already taken a look at the surroundings on their own. Kai-Jan Krainer from the SPÖ, for example, with his cap pulled low over his forehead and shoulders, saw no reason for this if the joint trip was taking place today: “The local inspection helps us to have a clear picture for the first surveys, in 3D, not just from the photos in the files.”
A flood changed the branch
In any case, the “distances” that Rosenkranz speaks of are already small. From the house of Pilnacek’s then-girlfriend Karin Wurm, which he left around midnight on the night of October 20th, to the Danube branch, the MPs need to walk less than five minutes, even under the adverse winter conditions. Pilnacek, however, must have wandered around for hours before finally getting into the water. One of many mysteries that still surround his death.
Before we get started, Rosenkranz asks that they not enter the narrow and inaccessible place together where, according to police investigations, Pilnacek got into the water. Three groups were supposed to be formed, but the appeal was more or less ineffective. Contrary to what was agreed, the cameras immediately mingle with the MPs, and the local observation quickly turns into a kind of ad hoc press conference. An exhibition run on icy terrain.
One reason for the general disorder: The chief inspector of the district police, who is supposed to instruct the deputies on the location, turns out to be a rather unproductive source – he was not involved in the investigation at all. On purpose, as Rosenkranz explains. The local officials were not invited to provide information.
There is little to see and little to ask
The chief inspector cannot say exactly where Pilnacek’s body was found. In general, the entire branch of the Danube has changed significantly since Pilnacek’s death due to a flood. The officer points to a tree trunk that has some branches caught on it, signs that the water must have been two to three meters higher during the flood than it is today. “Actually, only the entrance point is unchanged,” says the police officer. It is located about 100 meters from the approximate location where the body was found, about two to three meters below the stairway. Only very few people dare to go down these days, the snow-covered stones are too slippery and on which, according to the investigators’ theory, Pilnacek may have stumbled shortly before his death.
Because there is little to see and even less to ask, Christian Hafenecker quickly turns away from the action and towards the cameras. The Freedom Party plays the leading role for the FPÖ in the committee; it is his platform that he primarily uses for broadsides against the ÖVP. The People’s Party, says Hafenecker, is “not interested in clarification”, his ÖVP colleague Andreas Hanger is “sulking” and is “completely nervous”.
Hanger, who is waiting less than two meters away with his hands in his pockets, laughs loudly. “And how nervous…” he exclaims. A spectacle that probably provides a foretaste of what will happen in the Erwin Schrödinger Hall in Parliament from January 15th.
First invited are the excavator driver who found Pilnacek’s body on the morning of October 20, 2023 and started the rescue chain, as well as police officers, firefighters and medical officers. The aim is to proceed “chronologically,” as FPÖ man Christian Hafenecker put it.
First, examine the investigation itself, starting with the discovery of the body; then come to the alleged political interventions, and thus to the prominent names. There are three that Hafenecker explicitly names: Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP), ex-National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP) and the former Green Justice Minister Alma Zadic.
Wolfgang Sobotka in particular aroused the interest of the Freedom Party – after all, Anna P., the roommate of Pilnacek’s friend Karin Wurm in Rossatz, worked in Sobotka’s office. Apparently, as Anna P. told the police, there was also a meeting at Sobotka’s house at which Pilnacek’s death was the topic. Both women were summoned to the investigative committee as witnesses in February.
