The action is considered the "mother of all wedding parades": now seven men are coming to court. The blockade of the A3 near Düsseldorf was more than three years ago. Investigators found masses of evidence on the cell phones of the accused.
Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - More than three years after a wedding party spectacularly blocked part of the A3 motorway near Ratingen, the date for the criminal trial has been set. From August 19, seven men from Neukirchen-Vluyn and Kamp-Lintfort will be standing before the Düsseldorf District Court. Including the groom.
The investigators had described the incident as the "mother of all wedding parades" because the action was imitated several times. The Düsseldorf public prosecutor's office accuses the accused, aged between 28 and 39, of joint coercion. As a wedding party, they are said to have blocked one direction of the A3 near Ratingen with their cars on March 22, 2019 and caused a backlog in the direction of Cologne.
According to the indictment, around 5 p.m. the men had blocked all lanes with several cars, including the hard shoulder, and completely braked the following traffic. A car was parked across the roadway. Another car let the tires smoke in front of the car with the bride.
Since one of those involved in the action is said to have fired a pistol into the air, the 34-year-old is also accused of violating the Weapons Act. A 28-year-old was driving without a license. According to legal sources, the accused have not yet commented on the allegations.
The case will not be heard in the district court. The scope was far less than initially assumed and the evidence was uncomplicated, said the district court and referred the case to the district court.
The prosecutor's charge is based on numerous testimonies as well as photos and videos of the motorway blockade that the accused took themselves. Two months after the action, the police searched the suspects' apartments with a special task force and seized cell phones and computers, among other things.
