One of my clients was sentenced to an absolute sentence of 1 year and 3 months in prison. The man came to my office asking for help. After getting acquainted with the client’s situation, I decided that his life situation was so complicated that placing him in a prison would have severe negative consequences for himself and his family. Therefore, as his defender, I submitted a motion to postpone the execution of the imprisonment sentence for a period of 1 year, referring to the content of Art. 151 § 1 of the Executive Penal Code, i.e. for an optional postponement of the execution of the sentence. In the application, I indicated the difficult situation of the convict, who is the father of four children, the only breadwinner, and in addition, is in the process of divorce, which will certainly not end soon due to the lack of agreement between the parents regarding the care of underage children. I explained that the children did not want to live with their mother, whom they blamed for the break-up of the family – the mother of the children had an affair that came to light when she became pregnant with a new partner. In the application, we indicated the threat to the well-being of the parties’ minor children, the need to undertake family therapy with the participation of the entire family and mediation in order to develop the conditions for divorce. An additional issue was to find a trusted and competent person who would run the convict’s enterprise, which would allow the convict to maintain the income and jobs created during his imprisonment.
The court shared the arguments indicated by us. However, he decided to postpone the execution of the sentence for a period of 9 months, considering that it would be sufficient time to put the personal situation of the convict in order.
Unfortunately, despite the client’s efforts, within 9 months, no agreement was reached on the terms of the divorce, additionally, the family therapy that the convict and his family undertook did not bring the expected results.
We renewed the application for the postponement of the sentence. The court postponed its execution for a further three months.
Due to the fact that the total period of postponing the execution of the imprisonment sentence was one year. The convicted person could apply for the execution of the sentence under the electronic supervision procedure. The court, taking into account the situation of the convict and his current attitude, gave its consent.
Currently, the client is serving a sentence, and at the same time can earn to support the family, look after the children and actively participate in family therapy. We are also on the way to an amicable settlement of the divorce case. The deferment of imprisonment turned out to be a bull’s eye.
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