The Prisoners

The animal protectionists being held under section 278a of the Austrian criminal code are amazed to hear about the solidarity being shown to them from around the world. And enjoy hearing about the countless solidarity actions that have taken place since this nightmare began on 21 May.

You can also write to all ten people by sending a card or a letter to the person if their full name and prison address are listed below. Alternatively, the Austrian Vegan Society has offered their services for getting letters to the prisoners: simply send an e-mail with the name of the person you want to write to in the subject line to  info@vegan.at
Staff at the Vegan Society will print your e-mail and send it on with the post. Please be aware that all correspondence to the prisoners will be read by the authorities, and because of this it can take around 10 days for letters to reach the intended people.


Christian Moser
born 03. October 1976, lives in Tirol
Christian is father to 3 children to whom is he very close. Being separated from his family is the hardest thing for him right now. Christian is a trained restaurateur, sculptor and artist. He cares deeply about human and animal rights. This is reflected in his creative work, where he is not afraid to use artistic provocation to get people thinking about issues.
Christian organises the weekly anti fur information stands for the VGT in Innsbruck outside Kleider Bauer. He brings his creativity to these events as well in the form of theatre and drum performances.
Letters: Justizanstalt Wr. Neustadt, Christian Moser, Maximiliang. 3, 2700 Wr. Neustadt, Austria
E-mails with "Chris" in the subject line to:  info@vegan.at

Christof
Justizanstalt Wr. Neustadt
E-mails with "Christof" in the subject line to:  info@vegan.at


Dipl.-Ing. Elmar Völkl
born 11. February 1977, lives in Vienna
Leading up to his arrest, Elmar had been working flat out on his doctor thesis in technical physics. He devotes much of his spare time to computers and cars. But, he is also particularly interested in philosophy and sport. If this ever good natured fitness freak hasn’t got his nose in a philosophy book, then you can be sure that he will be either mountain biking or working out.
His bike is his trusty steed and he regularly attends "Critical Mass" bike demos. Now and then he takes part in VGT activities, goes to marches and is always there to help out with small or large computer and car problems.
Letters: Justizanstalt Wr. Neustadt, Elmar Völkl (JA Eisenstadt), Maximiliang. 3, 2700 Wr. Neustadt, Austria
E-mails with "Elmar" in the subject line to:  info@vegan.at

Mag. Felix Hnat
born 15. July 1982, lives in Lower Austria
Felix has studied economics and has been involved in campaigning for animal rights, sustainability, veganism and environmental protection for many years. As chairperson of the Austrian Vegan Society, often talks in public and to the media about the benefits of a vegan life style. One of his more unusual public engagements for veganism was as part of an Austrian reality TV show. Felix is also editor in chief fort he bi-annual “vegan.at“magazine, where he makes it his responsibility to bring well researched facts concerning health, politics and economics in combination with veganism to a wide audience.
Along side working on his doctor thesis, this fitness fan puts as much time as he can into VGT campaigns and into projects such as “critical Mass“ bike demos and the “Civil Society“.
Letters: Justizanstalt Wr. Neustadt, Felix Hnat (JA Eisenstadt), Maximiliang. 3, 2700 Wr. Neustadt, Austria
E-mails with "Felix" in the subject line to:  info@vegan.at

Jan
Justizanstalt Josefstadt
E-mails with "Jan" in the subject line to:  info@vegan.at


Jürgen Faulmann
born 19. July 1969, lives in Lower Austria
Since the mid 90s Jürgen, father of two, has been active for animals. He has been involved with VGT right from the beginning. Jürgen moved to Germany some years back to work for the animal rights organisation PETA. But, he came back home to Austria and now plays an important role at Four Paws International as Campaigns Director. Jürgen is known in the movement for his hard to top outfits: the repenting hunter is one of his most impressive! Jürgen also took part in the Austrian TV reality show with Felix Hnat. For Jürgen the best way of getting the idea of animal rights across, apart from informing the public of the suffering animals are made to endure, is in the form of colourful and creative actions and fantastic tasting vegan food.
This trained chefs most recent project is called "Burger Master" (which is a nice play on words with Bürgermeister meaning mayor in German). The Burger Master mobile is a state-of-the-art burger van selling vegan only burgers and kebabs!
Letters: Justizanstalt Wr. Neustadt, Jürgen Faulmann, Maximiliang. 3, 2700 Wr. Neustadt, Austria
E-mails with "Juergen" in the subject line to:  info@vegan.at


[removed at request of prisoner]

Leo
Justizanstalt Josefstadt
E-mails with "Leo" in the subject line to:  info@vegan.at


DDr. Martin Balluch (ist im Hungerstreik!)
born 12. October 1964, lives in Vienna
The president of the VGT has a doctorate in natural sciences as well as in philosophy. After finishing his studies he worked as a university assistant at the University of Vienna, University of Heidelberg, Germany and University of Cambridge, UK. When he returned to Austria, he made animal rights into his main occupation. Martin teaches in schools as an invited animal protection teacher, mainly to sixth form classes. In 2005 his philosophy thesis was published as a book “The Continuity of Consciousness: The Scientific Argument for Animal Rights” (Yet to be translated into English).
Martin loves nature, especially the mountains and uses every opportunity to go hiking, climbing and skiing.
Immediately before his arrest, Martin had been investing time in the issue of live animal transport and in preparing for the campaign “Animal Protection in the Constitution“, which was due to be launched on the very day of his arrest…
Read Martin’s statements: 27.05., 04.06., 13.06.
Letters: Justizanstalt Wr. Neustadt, Martin Balluch (JA Josefstadt), Maximiliang. 3, 2700 Wr. Neustadt, Austria
E-mails with "Martin" in the subject line to:  info@vegan.at

Sabine
Justizanstalt Josefstadt
E-mails with "Sabine" in the subject line to:  info@vegan.at