The mayor of Brunner, himself a lawyer, is now taking legal action against the founder of the Brunner Transport Initiative, Johann Rubendunst, who had openly criticized the local chief in a broadcast.
Specifically, it is about a broadcast in which a citizen of Brunner mocked the traffic situation in his residential area, and which Rubendunst had sent. “You can move away if something doesn’t suit you,” Linhart replied to Brunner. This statement “was never made, it was invented,” explains Mayor Andreas Linhart, SPÖ, and promptly replied with a lawyer’s letter to Rubendunst. In it, Rubendunst was asked to retract the statement.
Rubendunst recanted in a regional magazine
After careful consideration, Rubendunst, after consulting his family, decided to withdraw. “I wanted to avoid unnecessary high costs and stress for my family and possibly a long court process. My intention was never to offend anyone, but rather, as the spokesman for the citizens’ initiative, to show how we are treated by the mayor. The revocation was then made at his own expense in a regional magazine”. Rubendunst wanted to avoid a complaint from the mayor and therefore complied with the first request for a revocation.
However, Linhart was not satisfied with that and is now suing Rubendunst for 2,400 euros and renewed revocation by posting it all over Brunn. The total costs would therefore amount to more than 5,000 euros. “I just don’t understand it, because that’s exactly what I wanted to avoid. I have revoked it. I don’t understand why the mayor is asking me to pay a second time here. I suspect he has something against me pointing out the things that are going wrong in Brunn and now he wants to gag me!”
Linhart sees no other way than the lawsuit
Linhart sticks to his claim: “I have a thick skin, you have to have that as a mayor. But at some point I’ve had enough. Especially if I’m misquoted, so I defend myself.” The mayor doesn’t want “people to be able to accuse me of everything. I can’t put up with that.”
Rubendunst is now also turning to the public for financial support if he loses. “You never know these days and the mayor can certainly afford a top lawyer. I am the best proof that unpleasant things are complained about by him!” concludes Rubendunst.
