The racism of the stadium goes to court: the Prosecutor's Office investigates ex officio with the precedent of Iñaki Williams

The episode of racism suffered by Vinicius Jr. Last Sunday at Mestalla he has already made the leap from the stadium to the court and it may become the second case in Spanish football that ends with the attackers on the bench facing between six months and two years in prison.

The Valencia Prosecutor's Office opened yesterday ex officio investigation proceedings for an “alleged hate crime” committed against the Real Madrid player. Shortly before, his club had communicated that it considered the events as a “direct attack on the coexistence model of our social and democratic State of law” and a “hate crime”, for which reason it had gone to the Attorney General's Office and warned that it would study his appearance “as a private prosecution in the proceedings that are initiated.”

In fact, the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, held a meeting with Vinicius on Monday to show him all the support of the club and let him know both the legal actions that the club will initiate and the process that is followed in Spain in the face of this type of event. and the role of the Prosecutor's Office. Also, in a statement in the middle of the afternoon, the white club charged against Luis Rubiales because they believe that forceful action has not been taken, according to UEFA protocol.

Valencia began an internal investigation on Sunday together with the National Police and has identified one of the supporters who insulted Vinicius, who was evicted from the stadium at that time, and works “in coordination with the Police and authorities to confirm the identity of other possible implicated». All of them will be expelled for life from the Mestalla field, as reported by the club.

The identification of the aggressors is key so that there can be criminal sanctions. In fact, there is only one precedent in Spain of fans being tried for racist insults to a player in a football stadium. Athletic striker Iñaki Williams suffered them on January 25, 2020, shortly before the closure of the stadiums due to the pandemic, in his match against Espanyol in Cornellá.

In the 69th minute he was substituted and, when he was leaving for one of the RDCE Stadium backs, “he received boos in the form of chants from some of the spectators located in sector 108 of the stands where the defendant was”, who was identified by the police according to the account of the indictment of the Prosecutor's Office. Although he initially acted against two followers, he only found evidence against one, who “acted personally, among many others, acting with obvious contempt for the black color of the player's skin, yelling at him and staging racist contempt gestures towards him.” , generating feelings of frustration, shame and humiliation, with the consequent loss of their intrinsic dignity».

That fan is waiting for the Court No. 2 of First Instance of Cornellá to set a date for the opening of the oral trial in which both the Prosecutor's Office and LaLiga, as a private prosecution, claim a penalty of “two years in prison, a fine of twelve months, special disqualification from practicing any profession related to sports for more than ten years and prohibition from accessing the stadium for a period of more than five years to the prison time that is imposed.

Akapo or Chukwueze

This is the first ex officio judicial investigation that has been opened for the insults that Vinicius Jr. receives, but LaLiga has denounced other episodes that affect the Brazilian and other players. The investigation is advanced against a Granada-Cádiz spectator who in February 2022 insulted Carlos Akapo, pending testimony in this case.

Vinicius has also done it in Mallorca, due to the insults that both he and Samu Chuwueze received from the same fan in two different matches. Procedures for racist attitudes suffered by the Real Madrid winger are also open in courts in Pamplona, Seville, Valladolid, where there are 11 identified, Barcelona, after the last classic, and in Madrid for the doll that appeared hanging from a bridge dressed in the Brazilian shirt before the derby.

But there have also been files. There were after incidents at Camp Nou with Vinicius, in which there were no identifications, and in Mallorca, when the court considered that “the expressions and sounds do not have a criminal dimension”. The same happened to Nico Williams at the Villamarín. For the court, the shouts received in March 2022 “do not cross the line of a criminal offense.”