Valencia, Spain, Jun 10 (EFE).- Three Valencia fans were sentenced Monday to eight months in prison and a two-year stadium ban for racially abusing Real Madrid player Vinicius Jr during a Spanish LaLiga match at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium.
The incident occurred during Real Madrid’s 1-0 defeat at Valencia on May 21 last year, with Vinicius accusing Valencia ers behind a goal of racially abusing him.
After the player informed the referee, the game was briefly suspended, with the player pointing to the fans who had abused him.
Following the match, LaLiga lodged a formal complaint with police, leading to two other fans being identified using Valencia’s internal security and surveillance cameras.
Vinicius, who had allegedly been the target of racist abuse on other occasions prior to that match, later condemned LaLiga’s and the Spanish authorities’ response to the issue, saying “racism is normal in LaLiga.”
The league, for its part, had said its ability to tackle the issue was limited by Spanish law.
The three defendants accepted responsibility for a crime against moral integrity with the aggravated circumstance of hate.
The mitigating factor of repentance, which included – at the request of Vinícius Jr and Real Madrid – a letter of apology that was read aloud in court, meant the initial sentence of 12 months in prison was reduced to eight and three-year stadium ban for LaLiga and Spanish federation matches was reduced to two.
Lawyers representing the three defendants had called for the suspension of the prison sentence, a request that was part of the agreement reached between the Prosecutor’s Office, LaLiga, the Spanish Federation, Real Madrid and Vinícius, which the judge will now have to assess.
In a statement, LaLiga president Javier Tebas said the ruling was “great news regarding the fight against racism in Spain, as it redresses the wrong suffered by Vinicius Jr. and sends a clear message to those people who go to a football stadium to hurl abuse. LaLiga will identify them, report them and there will be criminal consequences for them.”
Tebas added that while he understood that there might be “frustration” at the delay in the sentencing process, “this shows that Spain is a country that guarantees judicial integrity.”
“As such, we at LaLiga can only respect the pace of justice, but once again demand that Spanish legislation evolves so LaLiga has sanctioning powers that can speed up the fight against racism,” Tebas said. EFE
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