Austria’s right-wing government announced plans on Monday to hold asylum seekers in so-called preventative “security detention” if they are found to pose a potential threat to the public.
The constitutional amendment would enable Austrian authorities to detain asylum-seekers without first securing a court order.
In order to hold someone in preventative detention, authorities would need to have concrete suspicions that the person could carry out, or planned to carry out, a specific criminal offence, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told reporters.
Kurz added that the detentions would also be subject to judicial review, the Süddeutsche Zeitungnewspaper reported.
In order for Kurz’s plan to pass, the constitutional amendment would need a two-thirds majority in parliament — a prospect that seems uncertain, as his conservative coalition would need to win support from the opposition.
Kurz rejected criticism of his government’s plan and brushed away concerns over rights by saying: “We don’t need skepticism.”
Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, of the far-right FPÖ, said the detention was intended for “someone who has already strapped on an explosive belt in his mind.”
Kickl added that Austria would not be the first country within the European Union to make such a detention legally possible, saying that Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary have adopted similar measures.
The move to push for the constitutional amendment was sparked by a deadly stabbing of a welfare official in the town of Dornbirn in early February.
Source: DW
