Does the corona virus cause the Loveparade process to end prematurely? In any case, the regional court in Duisburg has proposed to end the mammoth process. Now the prosecutor and the three accused are on the train.
Duisburg (dpa) - The Loveparade criminal trial is to be terminated due to the corona crisis. This was suggested by the Duisburg district court.
Due to the dynamic development of the corona pandemic, it is not foreseeable when and how the currently interrupted negotiations can be continued, the court said. If the public prosecutor's office and the three defendants approved the proposal, one of the most complex post-war trials would end with 183 days of trial without judgment. The prosecutors and accused have until April 20 to comment.
The main trial started in December 2017. The last negotiation took place on March 4, 2020. Just last week, the court had announced an indefinite interruption due to the Corona crisis. Negotiations may be interrupted until June at the latest.
At the Loveparade on July 24, 2010 in Duisburg there was so much crowding that 21 people were crushed. At least 652 were injured. Three employees of the organizer Lopavent are charged with negligent homicide and assault.
The case against six employees of the city of Duisburg and another Lopavent employee had already been terminated in spring 2019 due to presumably low guilt without any conditions. Because of the large number of parties involved in the proceedings, negotiations take place in a congress hall in Düsseldorf. There are currently 42 co-plaintiffs represented by 29 lawyers. The three defendants are represented by 12 lawyers.
Co-plaintiff lawyer Julius Reiter criticized the proposal. It can be expected that the public prosecutor and the accused will agree to the appointment, he said. An attitude would mean that the accused cannot be held responsible. "The victims and their families are extremely disappointed. This is another black day for the victims and loved ones of the Loveparade disaster." The prosecutor initially did not want to comment on the proposal.
The court gave several reasons for his proposal. "In the event of a continuation, it would be expected that the further procedure would take a considerable amount of time." It could only be carried out to a limited extent due to the risk of corona spreading. Several members of risk groups were among those involved. A further arrangement of quarantines against those involved in the process is possible at any time.
The court suspects that if the proceedings were continued, the session would be limited. The introduction of the expert opinion required for a judgment would then take up numerous additional meeting days. The court emphasized that the board had incorporated the results of the existing written opinion into its considerations. The appraiser had informed the court in writing that the evidence gathered at the main hearing did not result in any significant changes in his assessments.
It would also be necessary to hear several co-plaintiffs and hear a number of psychiatric experts. Here, too, the court sees a "significant risk to all parties to the proceedings". In addition, there would be a strong psychological burden for some co-plaintiffs.
In the notification, the court also commented on the allegations. The board considered it probable that the defendants could be shown the fact that they were charged "if it were possible to continue the main trial without time restrictions". However, this is not the case. Therefore, there is only a very low probability of clarifying the accused matter "ready for judgment". In this connection, the court once again referred to the so-called absolute limitation of the allegations on July 27, 2020, ten years after the death of the 21st victim.
A possible guilt of the accused should be considered as low according to all available knowledge, it was said further. The long duration of the proceedings and the constructive participation of the accused must also be taken into account. "Taking this and other circumstances into account, a possible penalty would be in the lower range of the sentence."
If the other parties to the proceedings agree, the chamber wants to summarize their findings in a decision, present it at a limited, last main hearing and thus end the process. The next date is currently set for April 21, 2020. Because of the pandemic, it is still unclear whether it can take place.
District Court of Duisburg on the Love Parade process
Process diary of the WDR
