The Austrian doctor Kellermayr was involved in the fight against Corona and became the target of anti-vaccination activists. She committed suicide at the end of July 2022. Charges have now been brought against a German who had written her threatening emails.
In the case of the Austrian doctor Lisa-Maria Kellermayr, who was threatened by anti-vaccination activists and died by suicide, the Wels public prosecutor's office has brought charges against a 61-year-old German. The defendant is accused of “the crime of making a dangerous threat”.
The doctor, who is committed to the fight against Corona, was threatened several times by the defendant in 2022 with emails and Twitter messages, according to the public prosecutor's office in Wels in Upper Austria.
Doctor should be brought before a “people's tribunal”
Specifically, it concerns four emails and three messages sent via the short message service Twitter (now X), which were intended to “make the doctor feel afraid and anxious.”
In particular, the 61-year-old announced that he would bring the doctor before a “people's tribunal” that was yet to be set up and bring her “to the dock and then certainly to prison,” the public prosecutor's office said.
Kellermayr said she had been under massive pressure from anti-vaccination activists for months. She committed suicide at the end of July 2022. The 36-year-old's death in Seewalchen am Attersee had reignited the debate about hate on the internet.
The defendant faces up to ten years in prison
The doctor's farewell letters and a psychiatric report indicate “that the messages the defendant is accused of sending were partly responsible for the doctor's suicide,” the public prosecutor's office said. The offence of making a dangerous threat is punishable in Austria with up to ten years in prison.
The defendant has a previous conviction in Germany for property and violent crimes, but has not yet come into conflict with the law in Austria, said a spokeswoman for the justice authority in Wels.
The 61-year-old admitted to sending the messages to Kellermayr. From his point of view, however, it was just a mutual argument, the public prosecutor's office said.
Help with suicidal thoughts
If you are having suicidal thoughts, please seek help immediately. The anonymous telephone counseling service is available 24 hours a day.
Telephone numbers of the telephone counseling service: 0800/111 0 111 and 0800/111 0 222 www.telefonseelsorge.de
Telephone counseling for children and young people: 116 111 – www.nummergegenkummer.de
