Love Parade trial set to end without guilty verdicts?
February 5, 2019
German prosecutors have called for an early end to the negligence trial investigating the Love Parade techno music festival stampede that resulted in 21 deaths and hundreds of injuries. The accused would have to agree.
Image: picture-alliance/Sven Simon/M. Ossowski
Advertisement
In Duisburg, Germany, the District Attorney's office has called for the suspension of charges against all individuals in the Love Parade trial.
Ten people were accused of being responsible for the July 24, 2010 tragedy in which 21 people were killed in a stampede at the Love Parade techno-music concert. Another 650 people were injured.
Prior to the meeting of the Duisburg Regional Court — sitting in Düsseldorf in this case to allow for a larger chamber — Senior Prosecutor Uwe Mühlhoff said that three of the individuals would have to donate 10,000 euros ($11,441) to a charitable organization.
The former mayor of Duisburg in courtImage: picture alliance/dpa/F. Gambarini
The defendants would also have to agree to the proposal.
Seven of the 10 have indicated a willingness to end the trial, but three — those that prosecutors wish to fine — intend to resist the proposal. A lawyer for one of the three said that her client "is not giving up his right to be declared innocent."
However, prosecutors also said in their statement on Tuesday that they wouldn't agree to halting the trial with no financial penalties for any of the accused.
In German law, cases can be terminated early without legal verdicts, but with the scope for prosecutors and defendants to agree on a voluntary penalty (usually a fine or a donation) from some or all of the accused. This is particularly common in cases where prosecutors fear a guilty verdict might be difficult to achieve, or when the full trial might cost an unreasonable amount, or if there's insufficient time to complete the trial.
In this case, prosecutors say that the 10-year statute of limitations was the main hurdle to completing the trial.
A looming time limit
Prosecutors were looking at a deadline of July 28, 2020, even as they still had several hundred witnesses to be heard.
There was also the matter of more evidence that would have had to have been presented in the hearings.
In calling for an end to the proceedings, Mühlhoff said that an essential goal of the process had already been achieved: the enlightenment of the public to the causes of the accident.
He added that admitting more evidence and listening to more testimony would only have a "limited" impact on what the public knows.
According to the court's judgement, the tragedy was a "collective failure," with individuals' share of the guilt only small or moderate.
The ten defendants have until midnight to take a position on the possible termination of the procedure.
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.
