Three local police officers have also been charged over the stampede at the stadium. (file)
Surabaya:
An Indonesian court on Thursday jailed two football match officials for negligence in one of the worst stadium accidents in the sport’s history. In October, 135 people were killed in a crush at a venue in the East Java city of Malang after police fired tear gas into packed stands after supporters invaded the pitch.
Hundreds of people fled for the narrow exit, resulting in a stampede that killed or suffocated many, including more than 40 children.
Abdul Haris, a match organiser, was found guilty of negligence and jailed for 18 months. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of six years and eight months.
“I am sentencing the defendant to one and a half years in prison,” Presiding Judge Abu Achmad Siddiqi Amsya told the Surabaya city court.
This is Indonesia’s first verdict on the tragedy.
The judges also found security officer Suko Sutrisno guilty of negligence and sentenced him to one year in prison.
The judge said, “The defendant did not anticipate the chaos as there had never been an emergency before. The defendant also did not understand his job as a security officer very well.”
Both men have seven days to appeal against the verdict.
Three local police officers have also been charged over the incident and are awaiting sentencing.
The former director of the company that runs Indonesia’s Premier League has been named as a suspect and remains under police investigation.
Police described the 1 October pitch invasion as a riot and said that two officers were killed, but survivors accused the police of using excessive force.
Officers were seen kicking and punching supporters on the pitch before firing tear gas indiscriminately into the stands.
Football’s world governing body FIFA has banned the use of such riot control methods inside stadiums.
The tragedy has forced Indonesian officials to confront failures in various aspects of the domestic game, which has been plagued by shaky infrastructure, mismanagement and violence over the years.
Following the tragedy, the Indonesian National Police dismissed their local chiefs for both the city of Malang and the province of East Java.
The government also suspended all competitive football games, but league matches resumed last month, without fans in the stands.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered an investigation and pledged to demolish and rebuild the Kanjuruhan Stadium in accordance with FIFA standards.
A task force investigating the crush has asked the head of the Football Association of Indonesia and all members of its executive committee to resign, but they have refused to do so.
The match was a clash between fierce East Javanese rivals Aremaa FC and Persebaya Surabaya, with Aremaa losing 3–2.
In October, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino called the crush “one of the darkest days for football”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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