The appeal proceedings against three employees of the KSC fan project ended surprisingly quickly. The case was discontinued in exchange for payment of fines of varying amounts.

In the highly publicized trial against three employees of the Karlsruher SC fan project, the parties involved have agreed to provisionally drop the proceedings in exchange for payment of a fine. The public prosecutor’s office and the defendants agreed to the proposal made by presiding judge Peter Stier at the regional court in Karlsruhe. The case had caused a nationwide stir, with numerous soccer fans showing solidarity with the social workers from Karlsruhe. The Karlsruhe District Court had sentenced the three employees of the KSC fan project to fines in the mid four-digit range a year ago on charges of attempted obstruction of justice, and the trio subsequently appealed. During the appeal hearings before the regional court, which were originally scheduled to last two days, the three defendants agreed to have the case dismissed. They must pay €3,150, €1,500, and €2,022, respectively, to a charitable organization. However, as their defense attorneys clearly stated, this does not constitute an admission of guilt.

After a pyrotechnics scandal that left eleven people injured at the second division match between Karlsruher SC and FC St. Pauli in November 2022, the three social workers refused to testify as witnesses in the investigation. They justified their behavior by saying that they depended on the trust of the fans in their work and had to protect this relationship.

However, the right to refuse to testify only exists in a few exceptional cases in social work. Fan associations across Germany had recently called for this right to be extended to other areas of social work.

By agreeing to the discontinuation of the proceedings, the defendants’ defense attorneys said, they wanted to send a signal and approach the public prosecutor’s office in order to improve further cooperation.