Investigation of beating nears end
Three still in jail for attacking policeman in World Cup
Posted: Saturday August 01, 1998 09:19 AM
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Police in Lens had their hands full with soccer thugs bent on violence and destruction AP |
HAMBURG, Germany (AP) -- The investigation of German soccer thugs
for the brutal beating a French police officer during the World Cup
in late June is nearly completed, Der Spiegel magazine said
Saturday.
The Hamburg-based magazine said that with the aid of numerous
photographs and video clips, a special German police team and the
Lower Saxony state prosecutor in Hanover have been able to
reconstruct how the soccer thugs beat 44-year-old Daniel Nivel into
a coma on the evening of June 21 in Lens, France.
The attack came after the German-Yugoslav game when dozens of
German soccer thugs clashed with French police.
In Hanover, prosecutor Nickolaus Borchers confirmed in part the
Spiegel report, saying three arrested hooligans, identified only as
Andre Z., 27, Tobias R., 30, and Frank R., 24, are jailed on
suspicion of joint attempted murder, dangerous bodily injury, and
breach of the peace in the attack on Nivel.
However, Borchers declined to confirm that another soccer thug
was still being sought in the case, as the Spiegel report said.
Borchers said that a 23-year-old man, who had been in
investigative custody in the case, was released Tuesday, although
he is still being investigated for dangerous bodily injury and
breach of the peace.
In addition, of two men arrested by French police shortly after
the attack, only Markus Warnecke remains jailed and the other has
been released, the prosecutor said.
Spiegel said the two were no longer considered the main suspects
in the attack on Nivel who remains hospitalized in a coma.
According to Borchers, numerous details uncovered in the
investigation are still being checked. The investigation can be
completed and charges filed "at the latest in three months," he
said.
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