Austrian ex-chancellor Kurz faces perjury trial

BERLIN (Reuters) - Former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz has been charged with giving false testimony before parliament, the Austrian prosecutor's office for economic crimes and corruption (WKStA) said on Friday.

Kurz and his former chief of staff, Bernhard Bonelli, "are accused of giving false testimony before the so-called Ibiza committee of inquiry in the Austrian parliament ... regarding the alleged corruptibility of his government," the office said in a statement.

His trial will begin on Oct. 18 and if found guilty, Kurz could face up to three years in prison, a Vienna court said in a statement.

The conservative politician left office in 2021 after prosecutors placed him and nine others under investigation on suspicion of breach of trust, corruption and bribery with various levels of involvement.

In 2019, Kurz's vice chancellor, former far-right leader Heinz-Christian Strache, quit over a video of him in Ibiza with a woman posing as a Russian oligarch's niece, apparently offering to fix state contracts and explaining how to dodge party financing laws.

(Writing by Friederike Heine; Editing by Miranda Murray)