The sentence given for surreptitious photography is considered ridiculously low.
The female players who were in the shower were victims of a burglar. Stock photo. PDO
An Austrian court has sentenced a former employee of the local soccer club SCR Altach to a seven-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 1,200 euros for embezzlement, says, among other things The Guardian.
The man was found guilty of sneaking into the Altach women’s football team’s dressing room, gym and showers.
In addition to the prison sentence and fines, the man was obliged to pay the victims 625 euros as compensation. According to the prosecutor, about 30 players were identified from the recordings and pictures.
The man worked at the club between 2020 and 2025.
Ex-player of the club Eleni Rittmann raved about the man’s sentence on his Instagram account with more than 200,000 followers.
– This leaves me speechless. The author was not only a top-level judge in Switzerland, but also worked in Altach. And it was there that he photographed players, including minors. I ask, is this an appropriate punishment? Rittmann wrote.
– We felt safe in the locker room, but this violated our privacy so badly that some of us still don’t feel safe in public showers.
The case has attracted great attention in Austria. For example, the sports minister of the country Michaela Schmidt called the situation in October a Swiss newspaper Blick’s according to “terrifying”.
– If female athletes are not safe even from a club employee in their own locker room, that is the last straw, Schmidt said according to the newspaper.
The club has announced that it will do its best to support its players in the situation. At the beginning of February, a member of the club’s board Manuel Willam told The Guardian that the club has launched an internal process to avoid such incidents in the future.
SCR Altach’s women’s representative team plays in the country’s premier league, the Austrian Bundesliga. PDO
