AUSTRIA/ FILE: AUSTRIAN PROSECUTORS LAUNCH INVESTIGATION AGAINST IRANIAN PRESIDENT ELECT REGARDING ASSASSINATION OF KURDISH LEADER IN 1989 IN VIENNA

Record ID: 648843

  • Title: AUSTRIA/ FILE: AUSTRIAN PROSECUTORS LAUNCH INVESTIGATION AGAINST IRANIAN PRESIDENT ELECT REGARDING ASSASSINATION OF KURDISH LEADER IN 1989 IN VIENNA
  • Date: 5th July 2005
  • Summary: (EU) VIENNA, AUSTRIA (JULY 05, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE 0.07 2. SMV PETER PILZ AT PRESS CONFERENCE 0.14 3. CLOSE OF PHOTOGRAPHER 0.20 4. WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE 0.26 5. VARIOUS OF REPORTERS 0.32 6. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (German) PETER PILZ, AUSTRIAN GREEN PARTY SECURITY SPOKESMAN SAYING: "In our first conversation the witness said Ahmadinejads role was also to act as a backup, he was waiting in front of the apartment with a weapon to see if the murders were successful or if he had to get involved." 0.49 7. WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE 0.55 8. CLOSE OF REPORTER 1.00 9. VARIOUS OF MEDIA 1.11 10. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (German) PETER PILZ, AUSTRIAN GREEN PARTY SECURITY SPOKESMAN SAYING: "I cannot personally say whether the allegations of Witness D are true, but I can say that, according to my knowledge, they are very credible. I can say that Witness D has made some statements and gave details that only someone with access to Austrian investigators classified files could have, or someone who got information from someone who was directly involved (in the murder) -- not from someone who ordered the murder, but from someone who was directly involved." 1.51 11. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE 1.57 12. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF HOUSE IN VIENNA WHERE MURDERS TOOK PLACE IN 1989. 2.04 13. CLOSE OF WINDOWS OF BUILDING 2.09 14. CLOSE OF NAMEPLATES OF APARTMENTS 2.14 15. WIDE OF BUILDING 2.21 (EU) TEHRAN, IRAN (FILE - JUNE 29, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 16. WIDE OF PRESIDENT KHATAMI AND IRANIAN PRESIDENT-ELECT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD SEATED TOGETHER 2.27 17. SLV MEDIA 2.31 18. SLV KHATAMI AND AHMADINEJAD WALKING INTO PRESS CONFERENCE 2.41 19. CLOSE OF WOMAN PHOTOGRAPHER 2.44 20. SLV KHATAMI AND AHMADINEJAD POSING AND SHAKING HANDS 2.55 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th July 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VIENNA, AUSTRIA / TEHRAN, IRAN
  • City:
  • Country: Austria Iran
  • Reuters ID: LVACC9958WEFG9RAHKJKCMMMFTAP
  • Story Text: Austrian prosecutors have launched an investigation against Irans president-elect.



    Austrian prosecutors have launched an
    investigation into whether Iran's president-elect was
    involved in the 1989 assassination of a Kurdish leader in
    Vienna, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday (July 5).

    Austrian Green Party security spokesman Peter Pilz told
    a news conference there was credible evidence that Iranian
    President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was involved in the
    1989 assassination of Iranian exile Kurdish opposition
    leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou and two other Kurdish
    politicians in Vienna. Pilz said his accusation was based
    on information he received from an Iranian journalist
    living in France who Pilz calls only Witness D.

    According to Pilz Witness D's information came from one
    of the alleged gunmen, who contacted Witness D in 2001 but
    later drowned.

    Pilz said that Witness D had said that Ahmadinejad
    delivered weapons to the assassins and in addition had the
    task of standing in front of the apartment where the
    killings took place with an automatic pistol in case any of
    the targets escaped.

    Pilz reported. "In our first conversation the witness
    said Ahmadinejad's role was also to act as a backup, he was
    standing in front of the apartment to see if the killings
    were successful or if he had to get involved," Pilz said.

    Pilz conceded that Witness D might not be correct.

    "I cannot personally say whether the allegations of
    Witness D are true," said Pilz, "but I can say that,
    according to my knowledge, they are very credible. I can
    say that Witness D has made some statements and gave details that only
    someone with access to Austrian
    investigators classified files could have, or someone who
    got information from someone who was directly involved (in
    the murder) -- not from someone who ordered the murder, but
    from someone who was directly involved," he said.

    Ahmadinejad won Iran's presidential election by a
    landslide last week, being hailed by the religious poor as
    the candidate most likely to redistribute the country's
    abundant oil wealth directly to them in subsidies and
    handouts. Ahmadinejad is to take over as President from
    Mohammad Khatami on August 3.



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