Because of the crime of abuse of office (Section 302 of the Criminal Code), a 23-year-old – now former, because dismissed – postman stood before a jury at the regional court on Tuesday. According to the indictment, on June 10, 2021, in a larger Salzburg municipality, the young man had knowingly not properly served official documents, namely RSb letters, in a total of seven cases.

For Ilona Schalwich-Mózes, the presiding judge, the actions of the repentant, confessed defendant used to be “an increased injustice”: “Because the recipients of the official letters were not at home at the time, you just signed the return receipts yourself. So just one, Haxn ‘Put it underneath and thus faked the delivery. With that, YOU have fooled the municipal office as the sender seven times that the addressee had received the letter, “said the judge about the defendant. Her postscript: “This gave some recipients a total ‘Gscher’ – they have to appeal.”

The defendant, defended by attorney Christoph Mandl, justified his misconduct in the trial as follows: “At that time I felt bad, I felt sick. Nevertheless, I went to work – I wanted my colleagues who were already under stress because of the pandemic don’t let them down. ” In one street he then “unfortunately signed the return receipts for the RSb letters to be delivered to households that did not open”.

The Senate finally sentenced the innocent 23-year-old to six months of conditional imprisonment – this is the minimum sentence for abuse of office. The judge justified: “Your actions represent a serious guilt for us. You have knowingly damaged the right of the sender to transport mail. A diversion is not possible in this case.” The judgment was initially not final. The accused accepted the verdict, but the prosecutor made no statement.