Legal dispute over police search: activist wins before the VwGH

Legal dispute over police search: activist wins before the VwGH

In February 2023 there was an incident in Vienna, which now attracted the attention of the Administrative Court (VwGH). A climate activist was put under pressure to take off his underwear while arresting the Vienna police. The VwGH has now dealt with this case and found that the generated security concerns were not sufficient to justify this procedure.

The 23-year-old activist was arrested on February 20, 2023 after a protest of the environmental activist group "Last Generation" and brought to the police recess center (PAZ) in the Rossauer Lände. There, according to the instructions of the officials, he should undress except for the underwear. He initially refused, but finally gave in when a police officer put on gloves. The official argued that this was a "standard procedure", although there was no specific occasion to support this measure. The suspicion that the activist might have hidden super glue was mentioned, but the VwGH found that this was not sufficient.

disproportionality of the search

The court rejected the revision of the Viennese police against a previous judgment of the Vienna Administrative Court and confirmed his decision that the implementation of the search was to be regarded as disproportionate. The VwGH said that there had been no sufficient danger that could justify such a measure. This even made the court confirm its previous case law: A physical search could already be considered given by the request for exposure without being necessary to actually make touch. The mere request to pull down the underpants turned out to be problematic for the legality of the measure.

With these findings of the VwGH, it becomes clear that the police must consider strict criteria when carrying out searches. The judgment offers an insight into the limits of police powers not only for the activist concerned, but also for the public. In the future, this judgment could also be a model for similar procedures that focus on human rights and the proportionality of police measures. For more information on this topic See the article on www.meinbezirk.at .