Freitag, 06.03.2020
About insults in football stadiums, criminal liability and classification of incidents
No personal comment
from
Dr. jur. Ingo E. FrommLawyer
Specialist in criminal law
Specialist in traffic law
Give me a call: 0261 - 404 99 25
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Over the weekend, so-called soccer fans rioted in many soccer stadiums, directed against Hoffenheim's Dietmar Hopp. The co-founder of the company SAP sponsors the team TSG Hoffenheim financially. On posters of some fans in the block of the Bayern fans at the away game in Hoffenheim was written "DH, you son of a bitch!" Furthermore, posters with crosshairs and Hopp's likeness were displayed. The game against FC Bayern Munich was on the verge of being abandoned. Munich's CEO Rummenigge has announced that he intends to prosecute the people who revealed the posters.
Insults according to § 185 of the Criminal Code are present when a person's personal honor is violated. Such offenses can be punished by the criminal court with fines and imprisonment. The initiation of proceedings requires a criminal complaint from the injured party. The application period is three months.
It remains to be seen whether the perpetrators can actually be identified by name. The video recordings in the stadium could be helpful here, but many of the Ultras were masked. Fines of around €1,000 were already handed out the year before last to fans of 1. FC Cologne who made similar insults against Dietmar Hopp. It is not certain whether the target on the posters will be deemed illegal; satire could fall under artistic freedom. But those who are now upset and talking about a "low point" in Bundesliga history should be reminded that abuse, mocking chants, insults and tasteless posters in stadiums have always been deeply rooted. Apart from the widespread problems of violence, vandalism and pyrotechnics. Decency and tolerance have never gone well together with fan blocks in stadiums. Chanting with nasty insults between the opposing fan blocks is common practice. They are almost part of the game. Every stadium-goer knows that. As sad as it is. This has hardly ever been addressed by those in charge after the game. For example, the referee is regularly called a "black sow" when the referee makes a decision against the supported team. Insults against individual players of the opposing team are also absolutely common. Think back to the days when Oliver Kahn was the goalkeeper for FC Bayern Munich. He had to live with the opposing fans greeting him with monkey chants for years, and it was even common for them to throw bananas at him on the pitch. Insulting chants were added to this. Did any football manager ever ask for a match to be abandoned back then? Never. The authorities brushed it aside. So we should be careful about making glib assertions about society having become more intolerant.
The statements represent initial information that was current for the law applicable in Germany at the time of initial publication. The legal situation may have changed since then. Furthermore, the information provided cannot replace individual advice on a specific matter. Please contact us for this purpose.