Jérôme Boateng was fined 1.8 million euros last year for domestic violence against his ex-girlfriend. The football star, who denies the allegations, then appeals. The process is now being rolled out again.
Accompanied by a great deal of media hype, a new trial against the long-time national soccer player Jérôme Boateng has begun before the Munich I Regional Court. Last year, the district court sentenced him to a fine of 1.8 million euros for assaulting his ex-girlfriend.
The 34-year-old rejected a court proposal for an agreement. He could not "reconcile this with his conscience," said his lawyer. Even if the negotiation will certainly be "exhausting and lengthy", Boateng does not want to accept the offer of an agreement. 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.
The parties to the process had previously held a so-called legal talk, for which the process was interrupted immediately after it began. What exactly the content of this legal talk was was not initially known. It might have been possible, for example, for the parties to the litigation to withdraw their appeal and for the district court's judgment from last year to become final. Judge Forstner emphasized right at the beginning of the appeal hearing that he considered the earlier judgment to be well-founded.
At the time, the court considered it proven that the long-time national soccer player, who is now under contract with Olympique Lyon, punched his ex-girlfriend and mother of his children in the face during a vacation together in 2018. Boateng denies the allegations and appealed.
The district court had imposed a fine of 60 daily rates of 30,000 euros each. 30,000 euros is the highest possible daily rate, but Boateng does not have a criminal record. Only from 90 daily rates is one considered a criminal record. The public prosecutor's office, which assumes dangerous bodily harm, had demanded a suspended sentence of one and a half years and a fine of 1.5 million euros, Boateng's then defense attorney Kai Walden an acquittal.
After his conviction last year, Boateng had changed his lawyer. "The defense is of the opinion that in the first-instance proceedings before the Munich district court, important circumstances exonerating Mr. Boateng were not or not sufficiently recognized," said the new lawyer, Nathan Gelbart, on request. "We are optimistic that there will be new insights into essential questions."
Two days of negotiations are scheduled for the new process. The verdict is expected to come out on Friday.
