SURABAYA: Two football match officials were jailed on Thursday by an Indonesian court for their carelessness in one of the worst stadium disasters in the sport’s history.
135 people were killed in a crowd in October at a venue in the East Java city of Malang after police fired tear gas into crowded stands when fans invaded the pitch.
Many were trampled and suffocated to death as hundreds of people fled for narrow exits, including more than 40 children.
Abdul Haris,
the top of the getting sorted out advisory group for the match, was viewed as at fault for carelessness and gave year and a half in jail. A sentence of six years and eight months had been requested by the prosecution.
In front of the Surabaya court, presiding judge Abu Achmad Sidqi Amsya stated, “The defendant did not read the situation and played down the possibility of an emergency situation or chaos.”
Indonesia’s first decision regarding the tragedy is this verdict.
Suko Sutrisno, a security official, was also found guilty of negligence and given a one-year prison sentence moments later.
In his case, the prosecution had also asked for six years and eight months.
“Due to the fact that there had never been an emergency situation before,” the judge said of Sutrisno.
The judge added that he also “did not understand his job as a security official well.”
A mother who lost her 15-year-old son in the tragedy, Cholifatul Noor, said that the sentence was too light and hurt the victims’ families.
She broke down in tears when she told the local television station Metro TV, “I am not satisfied with the verdict because this concerned many lives, not just the life of one or two people.”
AFP was informed by a lawyer for another family that lost two children that prosecutors must appeal.
According to Imam Hidayat, “if they don’t it will prove that justice is out of reach for the families.”
The attorney for Sutrisno said that his client was an expert in his field who had been working in the field since 2008, and that his client did not do his job properly.
When the crush occurred, the security official previously stated that he lacked the authority to open the stadium doors.
In court,
both men in white shirts have seven days to appeal.
Failings Despite the fact that the pitch invasion on October 1 was referred to by the police as a riot and that two officers were killed, survivors alleged that the police used excessive force.
Before randomly firing tear gas into the crowd, supporters were seen being beaten and kicked by officers on the field.
The world governing body of football, FIFA, prohibits the application of such riot control methods inside stadiums.
In addition, three local police officers have been charged with the incident, and their verdicts are pending.
The police are still looking into the case of the former director of the company that runs Indonesia’s premier league.
The tragedy has compelled Indonesian officials to confront flaws in a number of aspects of the domestic game, which has been plagued for years by violence, mismanagement, and unstable infrastructure.
After the tragedy, the local chiefs of the National Police of Indonesia’s Malang city and East Java province were fired.
The public authority likewise suspended all aggressive football match-ups yet association matches continued a month ago.
Joko Widodo, the president of Indonesia, has promised to demolish and rebuild the Kanjuruhan Stadium in accordance with FIFA standards and has ordered an investigation.
The head of Indonesia’s football association and every member of its executive committee have been urged to resign by a task force that is looking into the crush, but they have refused to do so.
Arema FC lost the match to Persebaya Surabaya 3-2 in a fierce rivalry in East Java.
In October, FIFA president Gianni Infantino referred to the crush as “one of the darkest days for football.”
