Alleged organizer of Strache's video is detained in Berlin

The alleged client of the scandalous video that caused the collapse of Austria's coalition government in 2019 has been detained in Berlin. According to The Local, the detainee is a 40-year-old Austrian citizen. Police would not name him, but some sources say he is Julian H., a private investigator.

The suspect was reportedly captured in Berlin's Pankow administrative district. It is specified that the man has been wanted for more than a year. In addition to the illegal creation of a video, he is accused of drug trafficking.

Now the German authorities must decide on the extradition of the detainee to Austria.

The domestic political scandal with the video recorded on the resort island of Ibiza happened in May 2019. The situation was dubbed "Ibizagate" after the German media circulated a short video recorded in 2017 by austrian rieltor Irena Markovic. The video, filmed with a hidden camera, shows former Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache and his aide Johann Goodenus. They communicate with a Russian-speaking woman, posing as the niece of an oligarch, and discuss the possibility of giving her more accessible access to construction contracts in Austria. In return, she promises to financially support the Austrian Freedom Party (APS), which Strache then headed, before the parliamentary elections.

In the end, Strache lost his position as party leader because of the video, and the party itself left the government coalition. The parliament passed a vote of no confidence in the cabinet, after which the government resigned. As a result, early parliamentary elections had to be held in Austria in September 2019.