Pilnacek-U Committee: Autopsy Testimony – Doctor & Prosecutor

A doctor carried out an examination of Christian Pilnacek’s body and suggested an autopsy, which led to a discussion with the police, who rejected this. The prosecutor said she was only briefly involved in the case at the beginning. The police asked if she would release the body, which she refused due to a lack of information. The police officer claimed it was a drowning accident, which the prosecutor could not understand. After speaking to the doctor, she thought an autopsy was necessary.

In principle, the decision to order an autopsy is an individual one depending on the case, and there is a “certain scope for discretion”. As a rule, she relies on medical advice, said the prosecutor. She couldn’t remember the sentence allegedly uttered by her friend, the doctor, “Snucky, if I have a hack now, you will have it too.” There were also no official notes advising against an autopsy.

When asked about preparation, the prosecutor said she had been offered coaching by the Ministry of Justice. She accepted that – out of interest “in what I can expect”. According to the woman, who has been retired since May 2025, she was alone during the training. The community doctor previously stated that she had not received any preparation for the U-committee.

The doctor emphasized the conceptual difference between a postmortem examination and a criminal investigation. The day before, two police officers interviewed said that the doctor was present at the postmortem examination. This contradicted: the inquest was something different. Their job was to determine whether the person was alive or not and whether they knew the cause of death. An inspection of the dead is always the responsibility of the community doctor. However, she had “never done a post-mortem examination” – and only found out later that she was even allowed to do so.

The community doctor entertained the trial judge by saying that she did not have a thermometer with her to measure the water temperature. Pilnacek was found dead in a branch of the Danube in Rossatz, Lower Austria, in October 2023. The officials interviewed on Wednesday also reported that this device was missing. On the day in question, she was called from her practice by telephone because a body had been found in the water, said the community doctor. The cause of death was not apparent, so she wanted to request an autopsy.

A discussion then ensued with the police officers present. The argument lasted “certainly ten minutes,” something that had “never happened in my entire life.” Ultimately, the request was passed on to the public prosecutor. The day before, a police officer said he had not exerted any pressure about it. The doctor said that after the incidents she was not put under any personal pressure: “I was not threatened either.” However, “strange things” happened, such as tires being slashed and windows being smashed on her car.

According to the community doctor, she had previously noticed the color of the head on the corpse. It was “blue, deep blue,” but otherwise she didn’t see any dead spots. The excavator driver who found the body said on the first day of the interview that it was “white as a sheet of paper.”

After the end of the meeting, ÖVP MP Jakob Grüner emphasized that the respondent had said that he had not perceived any political influence. It became clear to SPÖ parliamentary group leader Jan Krainer that there was pressure against an autopsy. The discussion about this is a “very, very strange process,” said FPÖ parliamentary group leader Christian Hafenecker at lunchtime. He “cannot understand why this is in question.”

The deputies considered it important to know that there was an investigation by the public prosecutor’s office and that Pilnacek’s cell phone could therefore have been seized. The cell phone is also important evidence for Nina Tomaselli (Greens) and Sophie Wotschke (NEOS). The next surveys in the U-Committee will take place on February 11th.