Case against 7 of 10 in German Love Parade trial dropped

BERLIN – German prosecutors have dropped their case against seven of 10 defendants on trial over a deadly mass panic at the Love Parade techno music festival in 2010 in which 21 people died.

The dpa news agency reported Wednesday the decision came on the recommendation of the Duisburg state court judges, who said after more than a year of testimony there wasn’t enough evidence to prove individual guilt of involuntary manslaughter and bodily harm. Defendants had been accused of planning failures and failure to monitor security properly, which the court said were more a collective responsibility.

Six Duisburg city workers and one event organizer had their case dropped. Three other organizers who rejected paying 10,000 euros to end the case, as allowed under German law for lesser offences, remain on trial.