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Public prosecutor's office applies for a penal order against former national swimming coach Lurz

2021-11-29T18:47:37.638Z


Five athletes had accused Stefan Lurz of sexual violence. Now the public prosecutor's office in Würzburg has completed its investigation against the former national swimming coach.


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A penalty warrant has been applied for against the former national swimming coach Stefan Lurz


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Daniel Naupold / picture alliance / dpa

The public prosecutor's office in Würzburg has applied for a penalty warrant for the sexual abuse of wards against the former national swimming coach Stefan Lurz.

The public prosecutor announced on Monday.

The allegations date from the years 2011 and 2012. At that time, Stefan Lurz had already been investigated.

After a private perpetrator-victim settlement, these investigations were discontinued, Lurz remained a trainer.

Until February, when SPIEGEL reported new allegations against Stefan Lurz.

In the article published at the time, five female athletes, some of them underage, accused him of sexual violence.

He is said to have manipulated and coerced her for years.

Sexual assaults on the part of Lurz are also said to have occurred regularly.

Lurz resigned a few hours after the article was published

A few hours after the SPIEGEL article was published, Lurz resigned, and three days later the Würzburg public prosecutor began its investigation.

These have now been completed just under nine months later.

The penalty order applied for against Stefan Lurz concerns two victims who were underage at the time.

At least one of them is about a competitive swimmer from the Würzburg high-performance center.

The allegations were not disclosed for victim protection reasons.

Lurz initially vehemently denied the allegations

Lurz himself initially vehemently denied the allegations.

"For what feels like ten years I've been facing the same accusations over and over again," he told SPIEGEL at the time.

Now Lurz has admitted the allegations dealt with in the criminal warrant procedure.

The process of the penalty order is currently being examined by the Würzburg district court, the message said.

In some areas, allegations were discontinued.

The Würzburg location celebrated many successes under Lurz

Lurz worked for years at the federal base in Würzburg.

For many years he was the national coach of open water swimmers and celebrated numerous successes with them in championships.

His brother Thomas Lurz, who is considered one of the most successful open water swimmers ever, trained under Stefan Lurz until his career ended in 2015.

After the allegations against Lurz became known, Thomas Kurschilgen, the then sports director of the German Swimming Association (DSV), was also released.

He is currently in legal dispute with the swimming federation.

jgh / dpa

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2021-11-29

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