DThe police caught a criminal who escaped from Berlin in Schleswig-Holstein. A spokesman for the Senate Judiciary Administration told the German Press Agency on Saturday, upon request. The 54-year-old man was caught in the district of Dithmarschen on Friday evening around 9:30 p.m. The police had been looking for the convicted rapist since Tuesday evening. He used an escorted exit in Berlin to escape. The prisoner was in preventive detention in the Tegel Correctional Facility (JVA).
According to the police, the arrest in Sankt Michaelisdonn was preceded by an extensive investigation by intensive investigators of the Berlin State Criminal Police Office. The Criminal Police Office of the state of Schleswig-Holstein and the legal authorities of Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt were also involved. Berlin Justice Senator Felor Badenberg (independent) thanked those involved. “This is the result of close and professional cooperation between the security and legal authorities,” he told the German Press Agency.
Preventive detention due to the seriousness of the crime
The Dessau-Roßlau District Court in Saxony-Anhalt sentenced the man to a total of ten years and nine months in prison in 2004 for rape and false imprisonment. According to the public prosecutor's office in Dessau-Roßlau, which is responsible for the execution, the 2001 rape judgment of the Frankfurt (Oder) district court was also included. According to the court system, the man was initially in custody in Brandenburg. Due to the seriousness of the crime and his classification as dangerous, he was then transferred to a preventive facility. He was imprisoned there since 2011, and in 2019 he was transferred to a preventive detention facility in Tegel prison in Berlin.
According to the Berlin administration of justice, the criminal has been granted leave from 2021. According to the constitution, the prison authorities are also obliged to do this in order to prepare the victims for a regulated life in freedom, it was said. According to the court system, the 54-year-old was granted many such departures – without complaint.
The Senate Judiciary Administration has now announced that it will use the current case as an opportunity to review the relaxation process for those in preventive detention.