Boris Becker Released From Prison

Boris Becker has been released early from prison. What’s next for the former tennis pro in Germany? / Boris Beckes Released From Prison

His time in prison is over: Boris Becker left Huntercombe prison in Oxfordshire on Thursday. After around seven months in prison, the time behind bars for the 55-year-old has now ended prematurely. Becker is immediately deported from Great Britain to Germany.

The press has been busy with his return home for days. Not only in this country. The early release of the ex-tennis star is also a big issue in England – for one simple reason: British tax money may have had to be used to deport the German citizen.

Another theory is that tax money was not necessary at all. Because reports from “The Telegraph” and “Daily Mail” brought another possibility into play last week: According to this, Boris Becker will leave the country with a private jet. The British sources let it be known: The 55-year-old is paid for a private flight to Germany. Supposedly because a Munich television station had agreed exclusive rights for an interview with him.

A TV special on Becker’s return to Germany on ProSieben or Sat.1? The joint venture ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE is based in Unterföhring near Munich. So far, there has been little evidence that the tennis star actually unpacked his eight-month prison term on television. Read more about this here. A two-part documentary on Apple TV + is already bagged. The recordings for this took place before his imprisonment.

British prisons are overcrowded

But what will become of him in Germany? Is he still threatened with bankruptcy proceedings here? Or does he have to comply with probation conditions?

The three-time Wimbledon winner was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in his adopted home of London at the end of April. He had concealed assets worth millions from his insolvency administrators. Under British law, Becker should have served at least half of his sentence before he could be paroled. According to this calculation, the 55-year-old would have been released from Huntercombe prison after 15 months in prison at the end of July 2023 at the earliest.

But Boris Becker could have benefited from a circumstance that he actually wanted to resolve in the past. In 2015, when asked if he wanted to become a British citizen, he said: “In the end, I’ll definitely try.” However, because he never did this, he could now have gone through an accelerated procedure with which foreign prisoners can be deported more quickly. Because the British prisons are considered overcrowded – space should be created.

Becker’s release and immediate deportation now entail a clear schedule. The lawyer Gül Pinar told the German Press Agency: “He will be taken from prison directly to the airport by the police.”

Normally, deportation detainees would leave the country on scheduled flights and land in Germany in Frankfurt am Main, according to the expert, who is a member of the Criminal Law Committee of the German Lawyers’ Association (DAV). When traveling by private plane, however, the situation is different. The destination can then obviously be chosen freely.

This is behind the “ban on double jeopardy”

Apparently Boris Becker is a free man after his deportation from British custody. “You cannot be prosecuted more than once for the same offense or crime,” said lawyer Natalie von Wistinghausen of the German Press Agency. “Behind this is the legal principle ‘ne bis in idem’, i.e. the ban on double punishment.”

After his deportation, Becker will most likely not be allowed to enter Great Britain for a long time, even though his partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro lives there. According to the newspaper “Mirror”, the entry ban applies at least as long as his actual sentence would have lasted, i.e. until the end of October 2024. Attorney Pinar told the German Press Agency that the period is usually longer and at least five years.

Does Boris Becker have to adhere to probation conditions?

It is also unclear whether Becker has to adhere to certain probation conditions. His lawyer leaves a corresponding request from t-online open. In response to a comprehensive list of questions, Christian Oliver Moser only says: “No comment”.

As a rule, it is at least stipulated that a change of residence must be reported to the authorities, said the lawyer Gül Pinar. Maybe Becker will benefit from Brexit here. Since Britain left the EU, any probation conditions could no longer be monitored on the basis of EU law in Germany, the Federal Ministry of Justice informed the German Press Agency on request. “Other international legal bases do not provide for the isolated enforcement of probation conditions,” it said.

Becker deportation: A comparable case is not known

It could possibly be the case that, according to the law on international legal assistance in criminal matters (IRG), the competence of German authorities results from the domicile of the convicted person. Should Becker, for example, find accommodation in his birthplace Leimen, where his mother Elvira lives, the judiciary of Baden-Württemberg would be responsible. However, no comparable case is known “in which a deportation to Germany was accompanied by the monitoring of conditions,” the ministry said.

And Boris Becker’s planned whereabouts have been purely speculative so far. It is just as conceivable that the 55-year-old will temporarily stay in a hotel or with friends in Germany.

Nevertheless, the next reports of possible pitfalls in Becker’s home country are already circulating. The “Bild” quoted a lawyer named Hans Georg Fritsche last Friday: “The district court of Heidelberg had ordered that the insolvency proceedings also apply to Germany.”

The bankruptcy is not over for Becker

The conclusion from this: Becker’s future income should be attributed to the bankruptcy estate. “This means that the income that Mr. Becker generates in Germany goes into the bankruptcy estate. In other words, he is not allowed to keep most of it,” says Fritsche. The report does not explain whether this will continue to apply after England has left the EU. Boris Becker’s lawyer Christian Oliver Moser said in 2017 about the proceedings in Heidelberg: It was the “legal consequence of the ongoing insolvency proceedings in England, which apply to the entire European Union.” So is this file also closed with Brexit?

Christian Oliver Moser replies to a t-online request: “I stand by my statement. There are no independent insolvency proceedings in Germany. Nothing has changed in my statement as a result of Brexit.”

As reported by the German Press Agency, the publicly accessible insolvency register in Great Britain shows that Becker’s proceedings have been extended indefinitely. It is therefore unclear whether and how much of his income he has to give up. Conditions were imposed until 2031.

Boris Becker gets his first visit from his sons