Facts
The appellant [X.] has been serving a life sentence since February 5, 2002 for murder, two completed attempted murders, and repeated preparatory acts for murder. He was initially incarcerated at the Thorberg institution, where he voluntarily underwent disorder- and offense-specific treatment. On September 12, 2007, he was transferred to the Pöschwies Correctional Facility (JVA), where he participated in voluntary individual and group therapy for the processing of the offense with the Psychiatric-Psychological Service of the Office of Corrections of the Canton of Zurich (PPD), which he discontinued in mid-December 2009. Currently, [X.] is in closed custody at the Inter-Cantonal Penal Institution (IKS) Bostadel. He has not been granted any relaxation of execution of sentence so far.
Considerations
The lower court holds that there are neither formal nor substantive reasons that would justify not including the assessment of the specialist commission of October 3, 2016 in the overall evaluation to be carried out when examining relaxation of execution of sentence. This assessment clearly goes against the appellant, as it assumes that there is still a high risk of recidivism and recommends that he not be granted any relaxation of execution of sentence.
The lower court considers that it shares the view of the specialist commission that there are no concrete indications of a substantial insight of the appellant into his problematic basic attitude and his offense-relevant personality traits. The appellant's behavior in the course of the execution of the sentence, namely his outwardly adapted but noticeably self-righteous, domineering and manipulative actions, his increasing rigidity, and in particular his refusal to provide expert persons with genuine insights into his inner world of values and…