Germany's Love Parade manslaughter trial could be terminated, with some defendants paying only fines. The suggestion has emerged from formal talks between prosecutors, victims' advocates and event organizers' lawyers.
Too many people were funneled through the same tunnel, leading to a mass panic and several deathsImage: picture-alliance/dpa/E. Wiffers
Advertisement
More than 50 jurists attended a special closed-door legal discussion on Wednesday to allow judges to assess whether to continue or call off the trial over who was to blame for 2010 Love Parade disaster.
Techno music fans were funneled through a single egress, a large disused two-lane vehicle tunnel, resulting in 21 deaths and 652 persons hurt at the improvised venue, a large former rail freight and shunting yard in Duisburg, a Rhine river city in western Germany.
The trial could conclude without a legal verdict, but with agreed penalties for some defendantsImage: Getty Images/AFP/I. Fassbender
Emerging from Wednesday's talks, lawyers indicated that the Duisburg Regional Court – convened over 96 trial days in nearby Düsseldorf since December 2017 – would opt for termination and forego penal verdicts against the 10 accused.
Judges themselves were not expected to make an immediate decision but issue a summary of jurist's talks on Thursday.
The 10 accused comprise four organizers of the then Berlin-based firm Lopavent and six Duisburg city officials.
Numerous lawyers quoted by the German news agency DPA Wednesday said prosecutors wanted fines imposed — at least against some of the defendants — if trial termination was chosen.
The clock's ticking in the courtroom: the 10-year statute of limitations for the incident would expire in July 2020.
Plaintiffs want civil claims option
Julius Reiter, a lawyer representing some 80 relatives of victims and survivors, said any termination must create conditions to enable them to pursue civil claims against Duisburg city and the regional state North Rhine-Westphalia.
Reiter said the court saw three Lopavent members as facing "moderate" guilt. The seven others – one from Lopavent and six from the city – bore limited guilt.
"It will end up in a termination in the first half of this year," Reiter said.
Defense counsel Gerd-Ulrich Kapteina said: "We see the possibility that a great chance exists that the trial will end in a termination."
Kapteina added that safety loopholes exposed by the disaster must be closed.
Festival grounds unsuitable
During its 13 months of deliberations, the regional court has so far heard testimony from 58 witnesses and six experts.
"In the framework of the [site's] planning, approval and acceptance process, there were numerous indications about the unsuitability of the proposed terrain, given the expected numbers of visitors," Gerlach told the court.
On the festival day, 24 July 2010, the turnstile entry system used for pedestrians on the former railyards proved not to be sufficient, he added.
Düsseldorf's large trade convention hall — 25 kilometers (17 miles) from Duisburg — was used by the Regional Court because of the large number of lawyers and plaintiffs involved.
Although it originated in West Berlin and roved the country by year, the Love Parade had become one of many events, including in the 2010 European Capital of Culture program, to rejuvenate Germany's former coal and steel Ruhr District.
ipj/msh (dpa, AFP)
Love Parade: From humble beginnings, to major music festival, to tragic ending
What began as a peaceful festival in Berlin with only 150 attendees went on to become one of Europe's largest music festivals. However, the Love Parade was abruptly cancelled after a deadly stampede broke out in 2010.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Four DJs, three cars and just 150 party-goers
Matthias Roeingh, better known by his stage name Dr. Motte, organized the first Love Parade in Berlin in 1989 along with fellow DJs Jonzon, Westbam and Kid Paul. Roeingh said he wanted the festival to be seen as a protest for peace. Some 150 party-goers, followed by three cars blaring techno music, danced down Berlin's Kurfürstendamm boulevard under the banner "Peace, joy and pancakes."
Image: Imago/Travel-Stock-Image
Europe catches the love bug
It wasn't long before the Love Parade grew into one of the largest music festivals in Europe. As the number of party-goers increased, so did the number of artists and event organizers who brought their own floats, or "love mobiles," to the parade.
Image: Imago/Seeliger
Partying in the heart of the German capital
After almost half a million people flooded Berlin's Kurfürstendamm for the Love Parade in 1996, it became clear that a larger venue was needed. The following year, the festival was moved to Berlin's Straße des 17. Juni (17th of June Street), with the Victory Column, Brandenburg Gate and Tiergarten Park providing a historic backdrop to the frenzied techno rave.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Grimm
More stress than love
But as the festival attracted ever more revelers, it also attracted more trouble ... and much, much more rubbish. Mountains of garbage in the Tiergarten became a common sight, to the disgust of many locals. However, because the Love Parade was still, in theory, a political festival, Berlin's state government had to bear the costs, both for security and for the mass clean-ups.
Image: Imago/Müller-Stauffenberg
Ravers protest festival commercialization
For all its controversies, the main point of criticism directed at the festival was its increasing commercialization. Love Parade organizers made a pretty profit through licensing, advertising and merchandise sales. However, that also drove many techno heads to distance themselves from the Love Parade, with some even starting an annual counter festival, know as the "F*** Parade" (pictured above).
Image: Imago/Seeliger
Out with the politics
In 2001, Germany's Constitutional Court revoked the Love Parade's classification as a demonstration. The court found that the festival offered no clear political message, a requisite for any protest. Since organizers did not want to bear the security or clean-up costs, the 2004 and 2005 Love Parade festivals were cancelled.
Image: Imago/Enters
'The Love is back!'
Under the banner "The Love is back!" the Love Parade relaunched in 2006, bringing more than a million revelers to Berlin. But it would also be the last edition to take place in the German capital. That year, Rainer Schaller, an entrepreneur who runs a chain of fitness centers, took over the company in charge of organizing the festival. His plan was to bring the Love Parade to Germany's Ruhr area.
Image: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
A record attendance in the Ruhr metropolises
According to the Love Parade organizers, more than a million flocked to the city of Essen for the first edition of the festival in western Germany in 2007, while some 1.6 million people partied in Dortmund the following year. Several people, however, have claimed that the numbers were massively inflated by organizers, likely for marketing purposes.
Image: AP
Bochum refuses Love Parade invitation
High on the festival's successes in Essen and Dortmund, organizers wanted to bring the Love Parade to the city of Bochum in 2009. However, city officials refused, citing security concerns. This ultimately forced the party to be cancelled in 2009, provoking outrage from seasoned ravers and parade-goers.
Image: Imago
The horrific ending
Organizers wanted to make up for the lost year by staging a massive festival in Duisburg in 2010. The festival coincided with the city's selection as a European Capital of Culture and attracted over a million visitors. But the party ended in tragedy. Panic broke out as crowds converged in a tunnel leading to the festival grounds, resulting in the deaths of 21 people, and injuring a further 650.
Image: AP
Never again
The very same day as the deadly stampede, Love Parade organizers announced that there would be no further festivals. Every year on July 24, Germany comes together to commemorate the victims of the festival tragedy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Love Parade disaster goes to trial
In December 2017, more than seven years after the tragic Love Parade incident, prosecutors launched criminal proceedings against six Duisburg city employees and four festival organizers. The trial is set to be one of Germany's largest ever court cases, with 70 lawyers involved — 32 representing defendants and 38 representing 65 joint plaintiffs, mainly relatives of the young people killed.
