- Criminal proceedings for the collapse of the Cologne City Archives have been suspended
More than 15 years after the collapse of the Cologne City Archive with two fatalities, the Cologne Regional Court has suspended the criminal proceedings against the four remaining defendants upon payment of fines. Both the prosecution and the defendants agreed to this step, as stated in a notice. If the defendants meet the conditions, the criminal proceedings will be permanently suspended.
This means, according to the court, that there will be no further main hearing in the case after a very long legal processing. The fines have been set at 5,000 euros or 2,000 euros, with the recipient being a support association of the City Archive.
The catastrophic accident occurred on March 3, 2009. The cause was severe errors in the construction of a new subway station in close proximity to the archive, as the regional court later determined. In 2005, a large rock was discovered during the excavation of a pit, which could not be removed and was left in place. This obstruction caused a weak spot in an underground wall that would have fatal consequences. On the day of the accident, large amounts of water and sand poured into the pit, causing the archive to lose its foundation.
From the many suspects, only a few remained
The disaster is still present in the minds and in the cityscape of Cologne. Only last year, work began to close the massive crater. In 2020, the Cologne city council agreed to a settlement to settle the damage. In 2021, a new archive was opened. However, out of the originally nearly 100 suspects whom the prosecution had investigated, only a few remained.
In the case of two defendants - an excavator driver and a foreman - no verdict could be passed. The excavator driver died, and the foreman became unfit to stand trial due to an illness, causing the alleged crime to become time-barred.
The four defendants who were still involved were accused of being involved in the disaster in different contexts. One of them, a man commissioned by the local transport company to oversee the construction, was sentenced in 2018 to eight months' imprisonment on probation for negligent homicide. Two construction managers were acquitted. In 2019, a senior construction manager was also sentenced to one year on probation for negligent homicide.
However, the Federal Court of Justice later overturned the acquittals and convictions and sent the cases back to the regional court. Among other things, the BGH criticized that important circumstances regarding the duty of care had been overlooked in the acquittals.
Court sees only indirect responsibility
All four proceedings have now been provisionally suspended. The court argued that the defendants could only be accused of indirect responsibility for the disaster in the construction pit. The two previously co-defendants, the excavator driver and the foreman, who could no longer be prosecuted, were responsible for the direct damage. In comparison to these two, the "possible responsibility of the remaining defendants is to be assessed as lower", it was stated.
The passage of time since the collapse has also played a role in the decision. The court stated that the interest in further criminal prosecution has since diminished. Over 15 years have passed since the collapse. Furthermore, the question of the technical cause of the disaster has already been sufficiently clarified. Additionally, there are no significant new pieces of evidence. On the contrary, it is to be expected that witnesses may now only have limited recall.
The decision to suspend the criminal proceedings was reached by both the defendants and The Office of the Prosecutor, as stated in the notice. With the suspension, there will be no further main hearing in the case, according to the court.
The court considers the defendants' responsibility for the disaster as indirect, as the direct damage was caused by the excavator driver and the foreman who are no longer subject to prosecution due to their unavailability or the expiration of the statute of limitations.
