Florian Teichtmeister is a Viennese actor who was an ensemble member at the prestigious Vienna Burgtheater. His name hit the global spotlight as he played Emperor Franz Joseph in Austria’s acclaimed historical drama Corsage, which was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination. 

But Teichtmeister is now better known as the Austrian actor charged with possessing pornographic images of minors. His trial, for which he plans to plead guilty to having several data storage devices with some 58,000 illegal images, will begin on February 8th and has shocked the country.

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The case revealed a significant gap in child protection in Austria, especially in comparison to neighbouring countries. For example, while in Austria, possession of abuse images carries up to two years imprisonment and dissemination of such material carries up to three years imprisonment, the law in Germany provides for prison sentences of up to five and up to ten years, respectively, for the same offences.

After popular pressure, the federal government raced to present a package of measures to protect children from abuse better. 

On Wednesday, the 25th, Family Minister Susanne Raab (ÖVP) and Justice Minister Alma Zadić (Greens) presented the measures focusing on stricter penalties for offenders, better prevention and protection for the victims.

What will the government do? 

The first thing is that the term “child pornography” will no longer be used, as it is considered to trivialising the issue. “Anyone who looks at it is also accepting that children are being raped”, said Zadić.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) had already voiced similar concerns. “It is trivialising to speak of child pornography. That is child abuse and deserves no tolerance.”, he said last week. 

Better prevention and more protection for children

The government announced an educational campaign to convey to children that assault is neither normal nor okay. The best tools the criminals have are still the shame of the abused, and proceedings are also discontinued due to a lack of evidence or the children’s inability (or unwillingness) to testify.

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According to a Der Standard report, the Ministry of Education is also working on implementing “mandatory child protection concepts” (verpflichtenden Kinderschutzkonzepte). 

The guidance would minimise the risk to children and provide teachers with a roadmap for proceeding if a suspected case arises or a child approaches them. 

Higher penalties for offenders

The minister said all parties were in favour of increasing offenders’ penalties. 

Anyone who possesses abuse images of children over 14 will face up to two years in prison – previously, it was one year. For children under 14, the sentence will be increased from three to four years. 

Those who produce images of abuse will face harsher penalties – up to five years in prison. In addition, ten years will be imposed on those who do so explicitly for the purpose of dissemination.

Support for victims

The new government measures also seek to expand support for victims, earmarking €2 million for family counselling centres which would then be funded with €9 million annually. However, this money would also be spent on therapy services for offenders.

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Austrian authorities also want to invest more in resources to investigate possible crimes, particularly online, as state departments would be expanded and special units would be created. Finally, they want to adopt a software solution to facilitate viewing the sensitive material.

The draft presented by the government brings the pillars of the measures, but there’s much still unclear. Zadić said she expects a concrete legal text before summer. It would then have to be presented and approved in parliament before becoming law.