Vienna court rejects Walter P.’s appeal over gender entry

A Vienna administrative court has ruled that Walter P. is male and dismissed his appeal against the reversal of his female gender entry, ORF reported.

The court found that the 61-year-old did not have gender incongruence or a settled sense of gender that differed from his biological sex. It said the change from “male” to “female”, made by a Vienna registry office in February 2025, was incorrect and was rightly reversed by the city administration.

The decision followed a clinical psychological assessment commissioned by the court and a hearing at which the judge met P. The 38-page written ruling is not yet legally final. P., represented by the Rast/Musliu law firm, can still file an extraordinary appeal.

The court said P. may have sought to change his gender entry after being told to report to prison, in order to serve his sentence in a women’s prison rather than a men’s facility. It also suggested he may have wanted to provoke a scandal and attract media attention, possibly to make money.

P. was sentenced in Vienna in December 2025 to 20 months in prison without parole for re-engaging in Nazi activity. A further 12 months from an earlier conviction under Austria’s Prohibition Act were activated, bringing the total sentence to 32 months. For years, he had shared images of Hitler and antisemitic hate in chat groups.

In early October, Vienna Regional Court ordered P. to begin serving his sentence at Josefstadt prison, a men’s prison. His lawyer, Nikolaus Rast, applied for electronically monitored house arrest. The administrative court’s ruling has reduced P.’s chances of being granted an electronic tag.