The Augsburg regional court sentenced a Hoffenheim fan to three years in prison after throwing a firecracker at a Bundesliga soccer game. According to a court spokesman, three other supporters of the football club received suspended sentences of between ten and 18 months. The verdict is not yet legally binding.
The regional court therefore considered the accusation of causing an explosive explosion in conjunction with bodily harm to be proven in twelve cases. The incident occurred during the game between FC Augsburg and TSG Hoffenheim last November.
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The court’s sentence remained below the prosecutor’s demands. This had demanded four years and ten months in prison for the main defendant. The prosecution also demanded a two-year prison sentence without parole for one of the accomplices. The prosecution demanded suspended sentences for the two other accused fans.
The main suspect had announced the crime
The main defendant had been in custody since November. On the eleventh matchday he threw a so-called mamba firecracker with enormous explosive power towards the field from the visitors’ block. The firecracker exploded in the lower area of a neighboring block. At this point, the FC Augsburg substitutes were warming up right in front of the stands.
It was only by chance that the Augsburg players remained uninjured. Twelve people in the fan block suffered injuries, including children. The main suspect had announced the crime in advance in a WhatsApp group. The other defendants supported the crime. So they waved flags before throwing the cannon to hide the man.
It was not a normal case of pyrotechnics in the stadium, said presiding judge Christoph Kern. Rather, it was about a “massive explosive incident” that put 26,000 people in the Augsburg stadium in fear of terrorism, he said in the verdict. The game between FC Augsburg and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim was interrupted for several minutes, also to treat the injured.
The 28-year-old main suspect made an extensive confession and apologized several times. He also paid compensation to a victim who will probably suffer from tinnitus for the rest of his life because of the firecracker.
The Augsburg regional court sentenced a Hoffenheim fan to three years in prison after throwing a firecracker during a Bundesliga soccer game. According to a court spokesman, three other supporters of the football club received suspended sentences of between ten and 18 months. The verdict is not yet legally binding.
The regional court therefore considered the accusation of causing an explosive explosion in conjunction with bodily harm to be proven in twelve cases. The incident occurred during the game between FC Augsburg and TSG Hoffenheim last November.
