Two-time Olympic judo champion Peter Seisenbacher, who has been sentenced to almost five years in prison for serious sexual abuse of minors and abuse of authority, could soon be released. The now 62-year-old has served two-thirds of his sentence next week. The time has come when the responsible prison court has to deal with his conditional release.
Austrian criminal law stipulates that a prisoner should be released early after two-thirds of the sentence imposed on him at the latest, unless there are so-called special reasons that give reason to fear that he will commit another crime. The conditional release is linked to a probationary period of one to three years, during which the person concerned must behave well and follow any court instructions. If he violates conditions or if he even appears under criminal law again, the conditional release can be revoked. Then it’s back to prison to serve out the remainder of the sentence.
In the Seisenbacher case, the Graz regional court for criminal matters is responsible for the conditional release. Reason: Peter Seisenbacher, whom the Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters found guilty of all charges in December 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison – the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Vienna later reduced the sentence by two months – is serving his sentence in the Graz prison. Karlau. The procedure for a possible conditional release is already underway, as the spokeswoman for the Graz regional court, Barbara Schwarz, said when asked by APA: “The file is being processed. We are still waiting for various statements. A psychological expert was also appointed ordered the prognosis assessment.”
In any case, the judges’ senate that decides on the conditional release must obtain statements from the head of the Graz-Karlau prison, the public prosecutor’s office and from Seisenbacher himself. The prisoner’s personal file and the files of the criminal proceedings are also examined. Since Seisenbacher is a sex offender who has been convicted by a court of law, the Assessment and Evaluation Center for Violent and Sex Offenders (BEST) also has a right to comment.
