In the summer of 2010, 21 concertgoers died in a stampede at Duisberg, Germany’s electronic music Love Parade Festival, and The Guardian now reports 6 event organizers and 4 city workers face 5 years of jail time over the incident.
On the day of the festival, panic broke out regarding the inadequate entrance gate, which was too small to handle the size of the crowd trying to enter the premises. Eight people were killed after trying to get to the festival grounds from an underpass of a former rail yard, and the other fatalities came from similar circumstances. State prosecutors would later investigate why the event was set to host only 250,000 people, when nearly 500,000 showed up.
Duisburg prosecutor Horst Bien has stated, “Mistakes in planning were the main reason for the disaster,” and told journalists all 10 facing charges have claimed innocence. He continued:
We weren’t looking to see who was morally or politically responsible but instead focused only on who was criminally liable.
The state court in Duisburg will now decide whether to send this case to trial, and it is not clear just yet on when that will happen.
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