"In the media coverage, potential suspicious facts were described and in some cases serious accusations were made against the police work, which on the one hand concern the events surrounding the immediate discovery of Christian Pilnacek and on the other hand the police investigation activities in the time afterwards, which not least also led to speculation about the circumstances of his death. In view of the great media attention that these critical reports have now received, it is necessary for the Ombudsman Board, as an independent supervisory body, to investigate the allegations made," said Ombudswoman Elisabeth Schwetz.
The Austrian Ombudsman Board has been scrutinising public administration in Austria since 1977. It monitors the legality of official decisions and scrutinises possible maladministration. The Ombudsman Board was established in the Federal Constitution Act as an auxiliary body of parliament to scrutinise the administration.
In the official review procedure, questions are addressed to the Federal Minister of the Interior, Gerhard Karner, on the following topics, among others:
- Detailed procedure of the police operation from the information about the discovery of Christian Pilnacek, the securing of the place of discovery, the recovery of the body, the securing of evidence, etc. to the removal of the body from the place of discovery.
- Carrying out or ordering the post-mortem, selecting the post-mortem expert, determining the cause and time of death.
- The specific course of the investigation or police operations and their legal basis for the seizure or evaluation of the deceased's personal belongings, in particular smartwatch, mobile phone, laptop and USB stick.
