Graz: Family sentenced for death threats

Graz: Family sentenced for death threats

The statements, unheard of before in the Graz Provincial Criminal Court, are quiet, but piercing.  "In our cultural circle," says a 19 year old with a Graz dialect, "it's not common to marry an Austrian."

"You are also Austrian," prosecutor Hansjörg Bacher reminds her.

Yes, but she is also a Turk and a Muslim.  And: 'people would rather stay amongst themselves'.

She sits next to her father and mother on the dock.  Her older sister (20) fell in love with an Austrian, a Christian.  "We couldn't envision our daughter marrying an Austrian," says the father.  - "You are also Austrian!"

The mother and father are accused of threatening the daughter and her friend, mentioning 'death' and a 'killing spree'.  They then agreed that the two would get married, but the father had to leave the country for losing face.  And they couldn't vouch for their relatives.

The little sister wrote a threatening SMS because she feared that the shame would hurt her own marriage.  The threatened sister left for Switzerland.  Did she freely go to live by relatives?  Did she freely leave her boyfriend?  Who knows?  Against her father and mother she stays silent. 

"We are not extreme Muslims," says the father.  The mother says little.  The little sister got married just before New Year's.  "Tolerance and integration are not a one-way street," says the prosecutor.  "Our rules of the game apply here."

According to those rules, judge Andrea Hacker sentenced the father to 12 months on probation, the mother to ten.  The sister was sentenced to a fine.

Source: Kleine Zeitung (German), h/t PI

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