The appeal process against the allegation of bodily harm against ex-national soccer player Jerome Boateng has begun before the district court in Munich. The accused does not want an agreement without a trial, but at the same time he refuses to comment on the matter.
In his appeal process for the allegation of bodily harm, former national soccer player Jérôme Boateng refused to testify. “He denies criminal activity, but will otherwise not comment on the matter,” said his lawyer on Thursday before the Munich I district court.
Boateng’s defense attorneys emphasized that their client was “entitled to a fair trial,” especially given the extensive reporting about him in the run-up to the trial.
Jerome Boateng rejects court’s proposal
Boateng had previously rejected a court proposal for an agreement. He could not “reconcile this with his conscience,” said his lawyer on Thursday.
The court had suggested that the process be ended “as unproblematicly as possible and without great effort”, but still “appropriately”. In this way you can save yourself a “comprehensive and unpleasant procedure,” said judge Andreas Forstner.
Before that, the parties to the process had held a so-called legal talk, for which the process had been interrupted immediately after it had started. What exactly the content of this legal talk was was not initially known.
No recognition of the old judgment
It might have been possible, for example, that the litigants withdraw their appeal and the judgment of the district court, which sentenced Boateng to a fine of 1.8 million euros last year for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, so that it becomes final. Judge Forstner emphasized right at the beginning of the appeal hearing that he considered the earlier judgment to be well-founded.
Even if the negotiation will certainly be “exhausting and lengthy”, Boateng does not want to accept the offer of an agreement, the lawyers said.
Source: Stern
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