[4] On 27 April 2018, several facilities of the Identitarian Movement were searched by the Austrian police, and investigations were started against its leader Martin Sellner on suspicion that a criminal organization was being formed.

[6] On 4 July, ten members and seven sympathizers of the movement were accused of spreading "radical, xeno- and Islamophobic ideology" as well as selling propaganda material over the Internet, and tried in Graz on charges of criminal association, incitement, property damage, coercion, and personal injury.

In accordance with Umberto Eco's characteristics of fascist ideology the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW) classes it as a neofascist as well as far-right movement.

[citation needed] On their website and Facebook page, they cite the works of Aleksandr Dugin, Dominique Venner, and Alain de Benoist as major influences.

[29] After an extensive court trial in the town of Graz, the accused 17 were found not guilty of the charges for hate speech and of having formed a criminal organisation made against them.

[30] This was hailed as a major victory by the identitarian movement (particularly Martin Sellner and his then fiancée, American blogger and journalist Brittany Pettibone), who believed the charges made against them to be unfair and an attempt to politically censor and repress the organisation.