Israeli football fans attacked in Amsterdam: several prison sentences

After the Attacks on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam has a court in the Dutch capital five people convicted and penalties of up to six months imprisonment are imposed.

According to the verdict read out on Tuesday, a 32-year-old should go to prison for six months because he gave one of the victims “a karate kick that almost caused him to fall against a tram,” according to the Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool reported from the courtroom.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, the man played a leading role in the attacks on supporters of the Maccabi Tel Aviv club on November 7th and 8th. Videos of him kicking and punching people were shown in the courtroom. However, the court’s verdict fell well short of the public prosecutor’s demand of two years.

Multiple prison sentences

Three of the five cases discussed involved violence and bodily harm, while the remaining two cases involved the exchange of information on social networks calling for attacks on supporters of the Israeli football club. Two defendants, aged 24 and 26, each received prison sentences of one month, and a 26-year-old was sentenced to ten weeks in prison. A 19-year-old was sentenced to 100 hours of community service.

Criticism: Judgments are too mild

The Dutch Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) criticized the sentences as too lenient. Given the “anti-Semitic character” of the violence, it is a “regrettable signal” that the sentences were lower than those demanded by the public prosecutor’s office, said CIDI director Naomi Mestrum, according to a report by the ANP news agency.

Both the defendants and the prosecution have 14 days to file an appeal.