2023-09-02 16:54:00
“Offense of serious damage to property up to April 30, 2023 in Suben, four accused,” says the hearing mirror of the Ried Regional Court. A common crime? It is 8:15 am outside the jury courtroom, the room is bustling with law enforcement officers from several prisons and police officers present. One by one the accused are brought in handcuffs.
There’s a high-risk process going on here, that’s perfectly obvious. Shortly before Judge Stefan Kiesl opens the hearing, there are two police officers and 14 prison guards who are placed around the dock with four men who are known to the authorities.
“We’ll do it calmly now, if there are problems, I’ll have the handcuffs put on,” says the judge. Overall, the imprisoned quartet between the ages of 21 and 30 has around 25 previous convictions on the record. Lawyers do not have the accused with them because the threat of punishment for providing a public defender is too low. “It’s not a problem for me, I will conduct the proceedings as fairly as usual,” says the judge.
According to the indictment by public prosecutor Alois Ebner, the four men in the wet cell of the shower tried to dig a hole through the wall with the legs of an armchair. In legal terms, an escape would not in itself be punishable, in this case it is regarding the damage to property caused by the attempt. For all accused, the maximum sentence increases from two to three years due to the rapid recidivism. Two of the accused pleaded guilty at the beginning of the questioning, two said they had nothing to do with the escape attempt.
The shower in the shared cell was broken. The shower tray was removed by a plumber, is to be found out at the beginning of the process. Apparently, this opportunity should have been used to escape from prison. The judge shows not only pictures of a hole in the wall regarding 30 centimeters deep, but also sheets tied together. The suspicion that they wanted to abseil from a height of around five meters is obvious. “No, no, we trained with that, pulling rope and strengthening the biceps, you understand,” says one of the accused.
“Wanted to hide cellphones”
The 21-year-old defendant presents his own version of why the hole was dug. “That’s where we wanted to hide our cell phones,” he says to the judge. He has to laugh. “How smart would it be to place cell phones under or behind the shower?” Chess and mate, the accused’s answer: “Yes, that would be stupid.”
“They knew that staffing levels tended to be thin on weekends and public holidays. Their motto was: ‘You don’t dare, you don’t win if you don’t start’. As far as I can remember, there was an outbreak in Suben a long time ago “, interjects prosecutor Ebner.
“We didn’t know how long it would have taken, we tried it and took turns digging for a whole night,” says one of the two confessing men, who also explains the working method. “We always threw hot water on it so it wouldn’t get so dusty. We knew that escaping wasn’t punishable, we weren’t aware of the damage to property.”
The situation seems clear, one of the two men who have not yet confessed admits to having been there when the judge once more pointed out that a confession was an important mitigating factor.
Only the 29-year-old remains adamant regarding his responsibility not to have anything to do with it, even though he is incriminated by his former fellow inmates. The accused are now in the prisons of St. Pölten, Wels, Ried and Stein.
“If you continue digging there, you get to the outside area. You would have to rappel down there,” says a prison officer on the witness stand. When he discovered the four men digging, they were all covered in dust. “I estimate that the centuries-old brick wall is regarding a meter thick. Six or seven inmates escaped from this area sometime around 1990,” recalls another Suben prison official.
“Part of critical infrastructure”
“We know exactly who was there. The four right people are sitting in the dock. They wanted to take the opportunity to break out. After all, they had already managed 30 centimeters, the rest would have been a little easier. A prison is an essential part of the critical infrastructure and a wall, in turn, is an essential part of this infrastructure. It would not be correct to speak of an absolutely unsuitable attempt. It cannot be ruled out that the hole might have gotten so big that they might get through,” says Ebner in his closing speech.
extension of detention
For the judge, the situation is crystal clear: the quartet is going into extra time behind Swedish curtains. Kiesl sentenced the four men to unconditional prison terms of eight to twelve months.
The unconfessed criminal, who becomes rabid and yells around the courtroom, has a year to spare. “Are you stupid, man! I’ve been sitting for more than three and a half years and now twelve months more”, followed by malicious applause. After the 29-year-old didn’t calm down at all, even the judge said: “Stop it, otherwise I’ll have you taken away!”
The prisoner complains that he is being treated like a serious criminal. “With all love, but so are you,” replies the judge. The 29-year-old files a full appeal, the other three accused accept the verdicts.
“I don’t know if it’s wise to let you watch TV in the future. You’ll obviously be encouraged to do things like that. This nonsense will go down in the history of Suben Prison,” says the judge and closes the hearing.
Author
Thomas Streif
Editorial office Innviertel
Thomas Streif
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