The Constitutional Court mourns the death of Brigitte Bierlein
Brigitte Bierlein was Vice-President of the Constitutional Court from 2003 to 2018 and President from February 2018 until her appointment as Federal Chancellor on 3 June 2019. She led the Court with great care and respect for her colleagues and the staff of the institution. For over 16 years, she represented the Constitutional Court abroad, vis-à-vis other state bodies and in the civil society sector with absolute commitment. President of the Constitutional Court Christoph Grabenwarter pays tribute to Brigitte Bierleinʼs focused and conciliatory manner in chairing the court and her great contribution to jurisprudence, especially in criminal and environmental law. ‘The Constitutional Court has lost an impartial former president and a highly esteemed person, and Austria has lost a determined defender of the rule of law,’ said Grabenwarter.
Brigitte Bierlein was born in Vienna on 25 June 1949, the daughter of a civil servant and an artist. After graduating from high school, she studied law and received her doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1971. After training as a judge, she embarked on a successful career as a public prosecutor, which took her from the Vienna Public Prosecutorʼs Office to the Vienna Higher Public Prosecutorʼs Office and the Federal Ministry of Justice to the General Procurator's Office at the Supreme Court, where she served as a general prosecutor from 1990 until she joined the Constitutional Court.
In addition to her professional duties, Brigitte Bierlein was active for decades in the public prosecutorʼs professional association, in the Independent Commission for the Protection of Victims against Abuse and Violence, and as chair of the supervisory board of the Bundestheater-Holding and the board of trustees of the Stiftung Forum Verfassung. She has written numerous academic articles in the fields of criminal law and public law.
An electronic book of condolence for Brigitte Bierlein on the website of the Federal Chancellery