Prosecuted for a “hate crime”, the four people arrested on Tuesday in Spain for the hanging at the end of January of a model bearing the image of Vinicius have been banned from the stadium, pending their possible trial, Spanish justice announced Thursday.
Presented to a judge at the end of their police custody, these four suspects were released on bail with the ban until further notice from approaching “less than 1,000 meters” from a La Liga stadium during matches. football, the Madrid court said in a statement.
This ban also extends to the Real Madrid training center, located in the northeast of the Spanish capital, near which the model in the image of Vinicius Junior had been discovered, the statement said.
The four suspects, including three active members of a group of ultra supporters, are being prosecuted for moral harm and hate crime, a criminal category including racist offenses in Spain.
During their presentation before the judge, these four men asserted their right to silence, according to the Madrid court, which specifies that the investigation is continuing pending their possible trial.
The model wearing a jersey of the Real Madrid player was found hanging from a bridge on January 26, the day of a derby between Real and Atlético Madrid, under a banner bearing the inscription “Madrid hates Real”.
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After this incident, Real Madrid had denounced a “racist act” and “repugnant” against its 22-year-old player, a regular target of racist attacks, saying in a statement that it hoped that those responsible would be punished.
The arrest of the four suspects came two days after yet another incident during a La Liga match in Valencia, where many supporters greeted the Brazilian player with monkey cries, subsequently copiously insulted during the match.
These attacks have sparked outrage in Spain and abroad, prompting football authorities and Spanish authorities to raise their voices against a problem that has so far been deemed insufficiently taken seriously in the country.
