Here we are again. As I write this, Eurozone Finance Ministers are meeting with their Greek counterparts to attempt to hash out an agreement for an extension on their next loan repayment in order to keep the banks open and narrowly avoid default. Play time is over: both François Hollande and Angela Merkel telephoned Greek […]
It has been a little more than two years since the whistleblower Edward Snowden’s first leaks of classified National Security Agency (NSA) documents revealing unchecked mass surveillance practices by the U.S. government, and it is safe to say that we now live in a totally different world. The core questions first raised by the Snowden […]
By Robert Amsterdam and Claire Kerschensteiner Stephan Templ’s conviction for serious fraud and his original sentence of three years imprisonment, now reduced to one, for damaging the Republic of Austria is an embarrassment for the country. To indict, convict and jail somebody for filling out an application form ‘incorrectly’ makes no sense. The restitution process, […]
We’ve published a number of updates here regarding my client, Stephan Templ, who is facing persecution by the Austrian authorities over a restitution claim. Now these updates will be featured on a dedicated website, StephanTempl.com, specifically relating to the case. Here’s an extract from the latest post, The Original Error of the Case against Stephan […]
Almost 70 years since end of World War II, Austria has largely shed its image as an engine for the Holocaust, and is instead better known these days as a civil, rule-of-law, wealthy country. Nevertheless, a series of recent events shows that the retrogressive anti-Semitic attitudes of the past continue to lurk deep inside the […]
Not only have prosecutors deliberately and repeatedly misinformed the media regarding the details of the Stephan Templ case, but diplomatic staff including the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs have also issued false statements distorting the court record.
The term “human rights” has been hijacked and had its meaning twisted into something negative and sinister. It’s time for us to seize it back and redefine what human rights are, and why they still matter.
“For an Austrian court to convict and sentence to jail a Jewish citizen under these circumstances echoes back to a very dark period of history.”