Austrian far-right leader sues voter for insulting him on Twitter

Heinz-Christian Strache could win 20,000 euros compensation if successful

Austrian vice chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache reacts as he addresses the media in Vienna (REUTERS)

Austria's disgraced far-right leader Heinz-Christian Strache has launched a lawsuit against a voter for insulting him on the internet.

The former vice chancellor and ex leader of the FPÖ, who stepped down over a corruption sting last month, filed a personal suit against the man for "insulting his honour".

The case will be heard on 28 June at Innsbruck regional court, Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung reported.

The allegedly offending comment, which has not been re-printed in the Austrian media reports of the case, was posted in early May, before Mr Strache resignation as vice chancellor. It was made in reply to a tweet Mr Strache posted.

If the defendant, from the region of Tyrol, is found guilty, Mr Strache is entitled to up to 20,000 euros in compensation. The far-right politician will be represented by one of his party colleagues.

Mr Strache has not tweeted since May 12, when the so-called Ibiza Affair destroyed his career. The scandal hit after a video emerged of the then FPÖ leader offering a purported Russian oligarch government contracts in exchange for favourable media coverage. He resigned as chancellor, party leader, and interior minister on 18 May.

The lawsuit is far from the first launched by Mr Strache. In January 2016 he sued another man, also from Tyrol, for registering the website address "www.hc-strache.at" and intending to use it to sell Islamic headscarves, which his party wants to ban. The far-right leader claimed the website's owner had breached his naming rights.

Austria is currently in the hands of a right-leaning technocratic caretaker government, with new elections scheduled for later this year to replace the government, which collapsed over the Ibiza affair.