The tragedy of the Vienna Beer Merchant and the Green Politician

[Syt]

This is a story that made headlines over the recent years and seems to have come to a tragic conclusion for now.

A few years ago, Green politician Sigrid Maurer (currently the chairwoman of the Green party in the National Parliament) received this private message on Facebook, sent from the account of the owner of a beer shop in the 8th district (where I live, and I'm familiar with the shop):

"Hello you walked past my shop today and look at my dick like you wanted to eat it

Please when you come by next time you can take it in your mouth without saying anything and suck it to the last drop, will also pay you 3 Euro more if you don't waste anything !!! Your fat ass turns me off but since you're famous, I gladly fuck you in your fat ass, so that you get off you dirty little bitch !!!"

(I tried to replicate the grammar and punctuation of the original message.)

Maurer shared the message, including the sender and commented:

"I would like to tell you something about A.L. [owner of the shop]. Mr L. has a small craft beer shop in Vienna's 8th district. Mr L. frequently drinks beer with his friends in front of the shop from the early afternoon on. I thought in a city full of hipsters it couldn't hurt to give information as to from which misogynist asshole one (potentially) buys their (craft) beer. If anyone wants to know why Mr L. harasses women can ask that himself."

Following this, the beer merchant sued Maurer for violating his privacy for publishing a private message, and for libel, claiming that he didn't send this message, and that other people, like customers, would have access to his PC, e.g. when he steps out of the shop for a moment. Also, he sued against being labeled an asshole.

The court agreed with that and slapped Maurer with a EUR 4,000 fine.

Maurer appealed the decision and the appeals court threw it back to the lower court: the lower court had required Maurer to prove beyond reason of doubt that the message was sent by the beer merchant himself, but had made no efforts to determine the truthfulness of the beer merchant's claim. There was a fair amount of back and forth, with farcical elements. E.g. the merchant claimed to have an exculpatory witness for his story, called "Willi". He didn't know his exact name, and only the broad area of Vienna where he supposedly lived. So time was spent on investigating who this person was. He was publicly asked to appear, which he once failed, and of course everyone believed that this "Willi" didn't exist.

Shock and horror: on the second day he was supposed to show a person named Willi who claimed to be the one looked for appeared, but said he had no recollection of any of the events.

At this point the beer merchant's lawyer resigned from the case. He got a new lawyer, but shortly after withdrew his lawsuit this February. The court had in the meantime ruled that due to the nature of the received messages, the reaction of calling the guy and "asshole" was legally fine.



The story doesn't end here.



While the law suit was ongoing, the (drunk) merchant allegedly threatened an older person passing by his shop to go away and when that person refused he allegedly threatened him with a tazer disguised as a flashlight (which is not legal in Austria). The court proceedings were supposed to start this month, but had to be postponed because the merchant's court assigned lawyer (the merchant has financial issues) hadn't received the full case file yet. The court case got postponed till 6th May.



The story doesn't end here.



Last night a 35 year old woman was shot in the head by her ex and died shortly after (it's the 9th homicide of a woman this year by an (ex-)partner, with various groups calling for better protections and policy changes to take misogynist speech and behavior more seriously). The police arrested the suspect: the beer merchant, who was so black out drunk that he had to be taken to a hospital.

To be continued?

[EDIT: adjusted the fine - 50k was the original demand]

[Monoriu]

If I receive offensive messages, I either sue the sender, or report him to the police.  No way I will publicise the message.  That is politicising the issue, and applying peer pressure or political pressure. 

[Syt]

If I receive offensive messages, I either sue the sender, or report him to the police.  No way I will publicise the message.  That is politicising the issue, and applying peer pressure or political pressure.

There was no legal redress she could take in this case, i.e. reporting it as crime or felony, according to her lawyers at the time. Austrian law (at the time at least) didn't have a legal means against such messages.

[The Brain]

Are there any proposed solutions to people like him that will yield better outcomes?

[Monoriu]

If I receive offensive messages, I either sue the sender, or report him to the police.  No way I will publicise the message.  That is politicising the issue, and applying peer pressure or political pressure.

There was no legal redress she could take in this case, i.e. reporting it as crime or felony, according to her lawyers at the time. Austrian law (at the time at least) didn't have a legal means against such messages.

In that case I will shut up.

[Syt]

He had 7 prior convictions for violent crimes, so that would be a place to start.

There's been many debates around how to deal with hateful online comments, but suggestions are either way too far reaching, or toothless, or - in worst cases - both. E.g. there's often a call for making use of real names on social media mandatory, or make forum providers take ID data from their users, but considering how many people already post such stuff under their real names, this seems pretty useless.

Another issue is that police have a tendency to not get involved e.g. when a woman feels threatened but no crime has occurred yet.

Until 2013 or so, sexual harassment in Austria did not cover kisses on the mouth (not considered a sexual act) or slapping someone's butt (not a sexual act).

[The Brain]

He had 7 prior convictions for violent crimes, so that would be a place to start.

Yeah. As long as repeat violent criminals aren't locked up I don't think society wants to solve the problem.

[Josquius]

I have to say the real names on social media thing does strike me as one area where China has things right.
Maybe not necessarily showing your name for all to see but at least validating it somewhere to sign up-I wouldn't trust Facebook with this, so then perhaps a central government database it connects to getting only limited info.
The potential hurdles are of course huge for a minimal reward outside of an authoritarian state wanting to control dissent so I don't see it happening.

[ulmont]

I have to say the real names on social media thing does strike me as one area where China has things right.

...he said, posting in a social medium under an alias...

[Josquius]

I have to say the real names on social media thing does strike me as one area where China has things right.

...he said, posting in a social medium under an alias...

Holy selective reading batman.
I'd have had zero issue with this account being connected to my real identity when I signed up