In Austria almost every second rape suspect is a foreigner

“Almost every second suspect charged with rape is not an Austrian citizen. Now there can only be a zero tolerance policy, and that also applies to deportations,” Kickl told the Kronen Zeitung.

The background of Kickl’s statement, is the increase in reported sexual crimes registered at the end of November 2018 compared to the same period last year. As the ministry’s response to a petition from the newspaper revealed, the number of reported cases of sexual harassment, rape, pornography and severe sexual abuse grew by 15,6 percent to 4 210 transgressions.

Of the 793 suspects in rape cases, some 358 were foreign citizens, which corresponds to an increase of 26,5 percent. The proportion of Afghans hardly changed. Last year, 55 Afghan people were suspected of being rapists by the end of November, 55 this year, followed by Turkish suspects and German citizens. The ethnic origin of the “German” rape suspects were not noted however.

Overall, the number of reported crimes has declined, as has recently been the case in Germany. In the first ten months of this year, the police registered 10 percent fewer cases compared to 2014 (395 510).

However, around 40 percent of the suspects were foreigners, which is extremely high, considering the much lower percentage of foreigners present on Austrian soil.

These were also particularly noticeable cases of personal injury, theft and drug offenses. “We address several levels in the fight against crime, for example with focused actions and increased international cooperation. And, we consistently deport criminals from the country.

“In October alone, during the charter deportations to Afghanistan and Nigeria, among others, 47 percent aboard the plane, were sexual offenders ,” Kickl explained at the presentation of the statistics at the end of November.