German referee convicted of match fixing may avoid jail

In November last year, the German football referee Robert Hoyzer was sentenced to 29 months in jail for taking bribes to fix the outcome of a number of matches in the German football league. But now Hoyzer may avoid going to prison altogether.

According to the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung, Hoyzer's defence lawyers have found "serious errors" in the written premise for the conviction, and Hoyzer may have been convicted for fixing a match that he did not referee.

The match in question was between Wolfsburg and Hamburg and was played in November 2004. The match is included in the list of matches that Hoyzer is convicted of manipulating but this particular match was in fact refereed by Hoyzer's colleague, Dominik Marks.

In the premise for Hoyzer's conviction the match originally referred to as "count eight" is first shown as refereed by Dominik Marks.

However, later in the premise "count eight" is listed among the six matches that Hoyzer is convincted of manipulating.

"Count eight" carried an individual penalty of nine months in jail whilst the other five matches carried penalties between eight and 21 months in jail per match.

In the final sentencing, the court did not add up the penalties for each count but took an overall view of the case which also took into account that Hoyzer had admitted to his crimes.

According to experts approached by Berliner Zeitung the errors in the written premise for the conviction is enough to considerably reduce Hoyzer's sentence.

Without "count eight" the sentence should not exceed two years in jail and if that happens it is possible to make the sentence suspended. That would mean that Hoyzer could avoid prison altogether.

If the error is considered grave enough, the sentence will be revoked, and the whole case will have to be tried again. It is expected to take between six and nine months to assess the error.

Meanwhile Hoyzer plans to start a new career in American football. He has been training with the Berlin Adler American football team and hopes to sign a contract in time for the new season in April.