Bomb attack at the 1996 Olympic Games

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On 27. July 1996 a was the bombing of the Olympic Games in Atlanta perpetrated. Eric Rudolph , an activist of the Christian extremist terrorist organization Army of God , was convicted as the perpetrator ; the attack claimed two lives and 111 people were injured.

prehistory

In 1996 the Summer Olympics were held in Atlanta, United States. For this purpose, the Centennial Olympic Stadium was created as the venue and the Centennial Park as the visitor area.

attack

On July 27 In 1996, Eric Rudolph , an activist of the Army of God , one of three interconnected pipe bombs existing explosive device weighing 18 kilograms in Centennial Olympic Park for the explosion . The remote detonated bombs contained nails as shrapnel and dynamite as explosives . Although the explosive device was discovered under a bench shortly before the detonation and the evacuation of the crime scene was initiated, the success of the attack could no longer be prevented. The pipe bombs detonated near a concert grandstand where several thousand visitors were currently staying.

Victim

The 44-year-old passerby Alice Hawthorne from the US state of Georgia died of her injuries on the scene ; her daughter was injured. Melih Uzunyol, 40, a Turkish cameraman , died of heart failure shortly after the explosion . A total of 111 people suffered some serious injuries.

perpetrator

FBI wanted photo of Eric Rudolph

The perpetrator Eric Rudolph was already noticed as a teenager through Holocaust denial and other anti-Semitic remarks as well as drug trafficking. Connections to the right-wing extremist sect Christian Identity , in which was long believed, could not be proven during the investigation against him. The Roman Catholic Rudolph denied any connection with Christian Identity .

Through his campaign against abortion , which is legal in the USA , he finally came to the Christian-fundamentalist terrorist group Army of God , which was already known for murders, arson and hostage-taking and justified this with an alleged " abortion holocaust " by its victims.

In accordance with the teachings of the Army of God , Rudolph presented his attacks as a protest against abortion and the social acceptance of practiced homosexuality . In accordance with his religious attitudes, he described this as "aberrant sexual behavior". He claimed that he had nothing personal about his victims, but also felt no regret or mercy.

backgrounds

Like the 1972 Summer Olympics , which were overshadowed by the hostage-taking in Munich and the subsequent murder of Israeli athletes, the Atlanta Summer Games were not canceled.

Investigations and manhunters

The investigation was directed initially against the security guard Richard Jewell , who discovered the bomb, notified the police and assisted in the evacuation of the crime scene. This did not succeed completely by the time of the explosion, which reduced the number of people affected, but not all personal injuries could be avoided. Shortly after the crime, he himself was suspected of having planted the bomb; he committed the assassination attempt to portray himself as a hero. Although he was never officially listed as an accused by the FBI , several unsuccessful civil lawsuits were brought against him and there were preliminary convictions in the press.

It was not until May 31, 2003 that the actual assassin, Eric Rudolph, was caught and, among other things, confessed to the attack at the Olympic Games, which finally rehabilitated the other suspects. Jewell died on August 29, 2007 after a serious illness at the age of 44 in Atlanta. The investigation into Jewell was the subject of the 2019 film The Richard Jewell Case .

Criminal Trial and Judgment

Seven years after going into hiding and two years after his arrest in Murphy, North Carolina , Rudolph received four times life imprisonment on April 8, 2005 in ADX Florence Federal Prison , Colorado . Early release from prison was ruled out. After a deal with the competent court, the court decided not to impose the death penalty after Rudolph had revealed his remaining explosives depots to the investigating authorities.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This Day in History: Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph agrees to plead guilty. History.com , April 8, 2005
  2. ^ A b Jennifer Jefferis: Armed for Life: The Army of God and Anti-Abortion Terror in the United States . ISBN 978-0313387531 . Excerpt from Google Books , 2011
  3. ↑ Ronald J. Ostrow: Richard Jewell Case Study. Columbia University , June 13, 2000
  4. ↑ Scores are hurt in an explosion at Olympic Park. In: New York Times , July 27, 1996, Section 1, Page 1.
  5. ^ A b David Mattingly and Henry Schuster: Rudolph reveals motives . CNN April 19, 2005
  6. ↑ A former in-law, Deborah Rudolph, reveals in an interview that accused bomber Eric Rudolph was a long-time anti-Semite who sold marijuana for a living. Southern Poverty Law Center , Nov. 29, 2001
  7. ↑ Backgrounder: Eric Robert Rudolph. Anti Defamation League , biography of Rudolph from June 5, 2003
  8. ↑ Harvey W. Kushner: Rudolph, Eric (1966–) . In: same: Encyclopedia of Terrorism. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks / London / New Delhi 2003, p. 320.
  9. ^ Doug Gross: Eric Rudolph lays out the arguments that fueled his two-year bomb attacks , Associated Press , April 14, 2005
  10. ↑ Marc Pitzke: Olympic hero Jewell dead: celebrated, hunted, broken. Der Spiegel from August 30, 2007
  11. ↑ Eric Rudolph Gets Life Without Parole. Fox News dated July 18, 2005
  12. ↑ Rudolph agrees to plea agreement. CNN dated April 12, 2005

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