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Letter of Appeal from the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

17 July 2000


His Excellency Dr. Thomas Klestil
President of Austria
Prasidentschaftskanzlei
Hofburg, Bellariator, Ballhausplatz 2
A-1010, Wien
Austria


Dear President Klestil:

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the largest organization of natural and social scientists in the United States, and the world's largest federation of scientific organizations, with 143,000 individual members and 273 affiliated groups. Our AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility was formed in 1976 to protect the human rights of scientists and to deal with issues relating to scientific freedom worldwide.

On behalf of the Committee, we express our concern about the criminal case against Dr. Anton Pelinka. In May, Dr. Pelinka, a political scientist professor at the University of Innsbruck, was found guilty of defaming the character of Jörg Haider and fined 60,000 schillings. The case was brought against Dr. Pelinka for comments that he made during an interview on an Italian news program. The Committee is concerned that Dr. Pelinka is being charged solely for performing his job as a political scientist. His commentary and analysis of Jörg Haider were based on statements from the public record and constitutes legitimate political debate.

The Committee is also extremely apprehensive about the apparent conflict of interest of Dieter Böhmdorfer who is currently the Minister of Justice and was the original lawyer for Jörg Haider in the Pelinka case. We respectfully inquire if there were measures taken by the Austrian government to address this apparent conflict of interest. We are worried that the judicial system may be exploited for purely political purposes to intimidate scholarship and restrict freedom of expression.

Suppressing legitimate political debate is in direct violation of several international treaties, including the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, which Austria ratified on 10 December 1973, and the European Convention on Human Rights, which Austria ratified on 3 September 1958.

Relevant articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights include:
· Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference (Article 19.1);
· Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds (Article 19.2).

The relevant article in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom states:
· Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority. (Article 10.1)



We trust that the Austrian government will respect the long and honorable tradition of science, civil rights and freedoms, and democratic values and will assure that theses are protected against political influence and interference.

Sincerely,

Irving Lerch
Chair
AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

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