BLUM v. AUSTRIA

FIRST SECTION Application no. 33060/10 Helmut BLUM against Austria lodged on 11 June 2010 STATEMENT OF FACTS Communicated on 19 December 2013 The applicant, Mr Helmut Blum, is an Austrian national, who was born in 1959 and lives in Linz. A. The circumstances of the case The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows. The applicant is a lawyer practising in Linz. In 2006 there were criminal proceedings pending before the Linz Regional Court against a lawyer from Upper Austria, O.G. and a Moldovan citizen, T.S., as they were charged of human trafficking. In these proceedings the applicant represented T.S. In the course of the criminal proceedings the judge of the Linz Regional Court on 31 October 2010 reported to the Upper Austrian Bar Association (Rechtsanwaltskammer) that he suspected the applicant of dual representation. The judge claimed that the applicant had asked T.S. to submit a statement to the court which contents were untrue but in favour of O.G. Due to this information the Disciplinary Prosecutor (Disziplinaranwalt) on 13 December 2006 applied to introduce disciplinary proceedings against the applicant. Accordingly, on an unspecified date, the Disciplinary Council of the Upper Austrian Bar Association (Disziplinarrat der Oberösterreichischen Rechtsanwaltskammer) introduced disciplinary proceedings against the applicant. On 11 July 2007 the Linz Regional Court informed the Upper Austrian Bar...