In Spain, the time for the investigation came, two days after new racial slurs made against the Brazilian star of Real Madrid, Vinicius Junior.
Four people were arrested on Tuesday as part of the investigation into the hanging in late January of a mannequin bearing the likeness of the attacker, police said. These people, arrested in the Spanish capital, are accused of a “hate crime”, a criminal category including racist crimes in Spain, the Spanish police said in a press release. Three of them are “active members of an ultra group of supporters of a Madrid club”added the police without identifying this club.
The model wearing a Vinicius Junior jersey was found hanged on January 26, the day Real Madrid won 3-1 against Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals, under a banner bearing the registration “Madrid hates Real Madrid”.
After this incident, Real Madrid denounced a “malicious and repugnant racist and xenophobic act” against his 22-year-old player, a regular target of racist insults, saying he hoped in a press release that the “responsible” be “punished”. An investigation was immediately opened.
The target player of monkey cries
The investigations, based in particular on testimonies, made it possible to establish that these four supporters, “identified during matches clified as high risk” within the framework of “violence prevention measures in sport”were the “alleged perpetrators” of the hanging of this model, explains the police.
In addition, the parquet floor of Valencia (South-East), where the Brazilian star was insulted on Sunday during a championship match lost by the club merengue against the local team (1-0), has, on its own initiative , opened investigations for an alleged “hate crime”, learned Agence France-Presse from judicial sources. In the report submitted as every week to the competent authorities, La Liga said on Monday evening that it had identified “distinctly” racial slurs and monkey screams.
Spain’s Higher Sports Council (CSD) said it was analyzing the footage to identify “the perpetrators of these insults and behavior to propose the appropriate sanctions”. The CSD also recalled that, for similar acts of racism, it had already requested this season a fine of 4,000 euros and a one-year stadium ban for the perpetrators.
The Federation also requested the adoption of “stronger measures”, which could go as far as the closure of stands, or even stadiums in the event of a repeat offense. For their part, Real Madrid and AFE, the main players’ union in Spain, have announced that they have filed a complaint with the prosecution.
La Liga have claimed to have submitted eight complaints this season for incidents suffered by Vinicius, but none have yet resulted in a sanction. The only measures taken came from clubs, such as Valladolid or Mallorca, which canceled the subscriptions of identified supporters for a specific period.
The World with AFP