House Arrest

Judge Rules: René Benko to Wear an Ankle Monitor

Benko—pictured here at his most recent court appearance in Innsbruck—will indeed be fitted with an ankle monitor.(Bild: Johanna Birbaumer)

While judges and prosecutors in the judiciary are protesting for more staff and the courts are largely at a standstill, a detention hearing has come on the scene that’s drawing everyone’s attention. René Benko applied for an ankle monitor in Innsbruck. And he was successful, as defense attorney Norbert Wess reported.

9 a.m. in Courtroom 125 at the Innsbruck Regional Court. Real estate speculator Benko explains to the same single judge who sentenced him to 30 months in prison a few weeks ago why he would like to switch to electronically monitored house arrest three weeks before his next trial.

Apartment Already Rented
He has already rented a 60-square-meter apartment, where he intends to prepare for his upcoming criminal trials in the Haselsteiner and Jagdgewehr cases.

Benko—pictured here at his recent court appearance in Innsbruck—is indeed being fitted with an ankle monitor.(Bild: Johanna Birbaumer)

The 49-year-old had high hopes of regaining a small measure of freedom after 20 months in pretrial detention and prison at the Josefstadt facility in Vienna and the Ziegelstadel in Innsbruck. And those hopes were to come true.

Benko’s attorney, Norbert Wess, is visibly pleased.(Bild: Johanna Birbaumer)

So far, only one person wearing an ankle monitor is in pretrial detention
Although a 110-page Higher Regional Court ruling from February, which found a risk of reoffending, argues against this. As does the fact that, out of 1,863 pretrial detainees in Austria, only one person is wearing an ankle monitor.

Court sees no risk of flight
The court in Vienna, where the detention hearings had been held until now, had already ruled out a risk of flight; the risk of tampering with evidence ceases after a certain period of pretrial detention.

“This could happen quickly now”
After a hearing that lasted just 20 minutes, it was clear: the billionaire bankrupt is indeed allowed to leave the Ziegelstadl correctional facility, where he was considered a model inmate. He will be fitted with an ankle monitor in the coming days and will move back into his own home. And he will now once again enjoy some freedoms in his daily life. When asked when the Signa founder would be leaving prison, Wess replied: “This could happen quickly now.” – “Even today?” – “I don’t think so, but probably still this week.”