The Nice supporter, who kicked Dimitri Payet during the incidents that led to the definitive end of the Nice-Marseille football match at the end of August, was sentenced Thursday to a one-year suspended prison sentence and five years of stadium ban . This sentence pronounced by the criminal court of Nice is lower than the requisitions of the prosecutor, who had asked for one year of imprisonment of which six months closed.
Tony Calzoni, 28-year-old temporary worker and supporter of OGC Nice since his childhood, therefore escapes prison, but his sentence is accompanied by a period of two years of probationary follow-up and an “obligation of care”, and he will have to justify “a job or a training”. “There is no firm imprisonment, we have not heard an example,” said the president, during the deliberation.
“It is a decision which seems to me balanced and proportionate”
The Nice supporter is also banned from the stadium “for 5 years, ie the maximum ban”, added the president. He will have to “point to the police station during each meeting between Nice and OM”, but he will be exempt from it for the other matches of OGC Nice.
“It is a decision which seems to me balanced and proportionate and below the requisitions of the public prosecutor”, reacted Me Benjamin Taïeb, lawyer of the supporter, who “will not appeal”: “The ban of stadium of five years is completely legitimate, so my client is happy with this decision, ”he added.
The match will be replayed on October 27 on neutral ground in Troyes and one point was withdrawn from OGC Nice. Another Nice supporter, accused of having given a Nazi salute during the same meeting, will be tried on October 13.
