It was one of the worst disasters in sports history. A giant stampede caused by tear gas fire from the police killed 135 supporters – including more than 40 children – in October 2022 after a football match in Malang, eastern Java Island, Indonesia. On Thursday, March 9, an Indonesian court sentenced two football match officials to prison terms for negligence after the tragedy.
Abdul Haris, head of the match organizing committee, was sentenced to eighteen months in prison. “The defendant failed to take stock of the situation and underestimated the possibility of an emergency or catastrophe,” Surabaya court president Abu Achmad Sidqi Amsya said in a statement. the first judgment rendered. The court also sentenced match security manager Suko Sutrisno to one year in prison for negligence.
The prosecution had requested six years and eight months’ imprisonment for each of the two men. “The defendant did not anticipate the chaos because he had not encountered an emergency situation previously. The defendant misunderstood his function as security officer,” the judge said. The two men, present in court and dressed in white shirts, have seven days to appeal their conviction. Three police officers, awaiting trial, have also been charged with negligence and a sixth suspect, a former director of the company that manages the organization of the first Indonesian football league, is still under investigation.
Penalties considered too light
Several families of victims said they were disappointed by the sentences handed down. “I’m not happy with the verdict because it’s about many lives [lost] not just one or two,” said Cholifatul Noor, who lost his 15-year-old son in the tragedy, in tears. the Metro TV channel. A lawyer representing another family who lost two children in the disaster called on the prosecution to appeal these sentences deemed too light. “If they don’t, it will prove that justice is inaccessible for families,” Imam Hidayat told Agence France-Presse.
Hundreds of spectators, panicked by a crowd movement caused by tear gas fire, had rushed towards narrow exit doors, triggering a deadly stampede, where many people perished, suffocated or crushed.
Police described the invasion of the pitch by fans on October 1 after the match between rival clubs Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya as a riot and mourned the deaths of two police officers. But survivors of the disaster have denounced the disproportionate use of force by the police.
The country is to host the Under-20 World Cup
The national police sacked the police chiefs of Malang city and the province. President Joko Widodo has ordered an investigation and promised to demolish the Kanjuruhan stadium, to rebuild it to International Football Federation (FIFA) safety standards. But the recommendation of a preliminary investigation advocating the resignation of the head of the National Football Federation as well as that of its steering committee has not been followed up.
National football competitions had been suspended after the tragedy. They resumed in early December, which will assess the country’s ability to host the Under-20 World Cup in May-June, said Minister of Sports and Youth Zainudin Amali. FIFA President Gianni Infantino described the disaster as “one of the darkest days in football”.