A Greenpeace activist has been fined 7,200 euros for a dangerous protest at the 2021 European Football Championship. The district court in Munich imposed a fine of 120 daily rates on the 40-year-old on Tuesday because he flew into the Allianz Arena with a motorized paraglider in June 2021, injuring two people in the spectator stands.
The campaign was directed against the EM sponsor Volkswagen and its role in climate change. The defendant from Baden-Württemberg, who works as a surgeon and who last lived in Pforzheim, apologized for his actions at the beginning of the trial. He admitted to flying over the stadium in a motorized paraglider just before the kick-off of the European Championship match Germany vs France, where he threw a large ball onto the field.
The umbrella got caught in a steel cable, causing the 40-year-old to lose control. A French sound engineer and a Ukrainian doping control officer from UEFA were injured while descending over the stands. The inspector spent one night in the hospital. The paraglider landed on the field and injured his ankle. At the trial, the activist promised never to repeat such an action.
Judge Verena Kikut said in her verdict that the sentence for intentional endangerment of air traffic and negligent bodily harm was based in particular on the danger that existed for the 14,500 spectators in the fully occupied stadium. The public prosecutor had demanded a sentence of 150 daily rates, the defense pleaded for a maximum of 90 daily rates.
A 36-year-old, who the court was convinced had helped with the preparations, was also sentenced to a fine of 3,000 euros. He had admitted to having informed the police shortly before the overflight for security reasons.