Iñaki Williams suffers from racist chants at the Espanyol stadium. /
The events occurred on the occasion of the match that Athletic played in Espanyol’s fiefdom in January 2020
LaLiga announced this Friday that, in tune with the Prosecutor’s Office, it will formulate an indictment and request the opening of an oral trial for the fan who uttered racist insults at Iñaki Williams in a match held in January 2020 at the Espanyol stadium in Cornellà.
“Once he is notified and summoned by the Court to formulate an accusation within his turn, he will act in similar terms to the Prosecutor’s Office,” said LaLiga, who denounced at the time the alleged racist insults against Williams before the Prosecutor’s Office .
LaLiga claimed to have learned that the Hate Crimes Prosecutor’s Office is requesting two years in prison for the Espanyol fan responsible for the events by the media and that it will act accordingly “following its faithful commitment to denounce, within its powers, all racist, xenophobic, homophobic insults and chants, etc».
The body recalled in a statement that it had previously denounced other racist insults to players by fans, as was the case of Vinicius, Real Madrid striker, in Barcelona, on the occasion of the classic on October 24, 2021, which was archived by not having “identified the perpetrators of the acts”. Also the insults that Vinicius himself received at the Son Moix stadium in the match against Mallorca on March 14 of this year, a case that was also filed.
The reason for filing his complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office was because “the expressions and sounds uttered, undoubtedly typical of coarse and despicable attitudes, as well as humiliating and absolutely objectionable, do not initially seem to have, for the present case, the criminal dimension public that is postulated”.
Another filed complaint from LaLiga was the one presented to the Seville Hate Prosecutor for the insults directed at the Athletic player, Nico Williams, Iñaki’s brother, on March 13, 2022, at the Benito Villamarín stadium.
The reason for the file was because “despite not having declared, from the study of the defendant’s social networks, it seems that he is not a person who intends to incite racism, or that the gestures made were intended to achieve such an end.” “The consideration of criminal law as the last ratio makes us estimate that, despite their incorrectness, they do not exceed the line of criminal offense,” said the prosecution.
LaLiga acted in the same way in the case of Carlos Akapo, a Cádiz player who was subjected to racist insults at the Los Cármenes stadium during the match against Granada on February 28, 2022. The case is still under investigation by the Delegate prosecutor in Granada of the Prosecutor’s Office, but the Nasrid club identified the fan, who also voluntarily presented himself to the police.
In the case of Iñaki Williams and the insults he received in the Espanyol field, the prosecutor attributes to the accused, the KGB, a crime against fundamental rights and public liberties, in its modality of injuring the dignity of people for racist reasons and against moral integrity, for which he also asks for a fine of 5,475 euros and that during the five years after the prison sentence he cannot enter any football stadium or teach sports and free time.
