Espanyol Fan Sentenced Over Racial Abuse of Iñaki Williams

Madrid, Sep 3 (AP) – A legal resolution emerged on Wednesday involving an Espanyol fan accused of racially abusing Athletic Bilbao's Iñaki Williams during a Spanish league encounter five years ago. The supporter, whose identity remains undisclosed, agreed to a plea deal resulting in a one-year prison sentence, which will be suspended, thereby avoiding actual prison time. Furthermore, the fan conceded to a three-year prohibition from attending soccer stadiums and agreed to pay a financial penalty exceeding 1,000 euros ($1,165).

Initially, prosecutors had pursued a two-year incarcerative sentence for the individual, who directed racist monkey sounds and gestures at Williams following his substitution during Athletic Bilbao's 1-1 draw against Espanyol in Barcelona, January 2020. The Spanish league was also a party to the case brought against the fan.

During the incident, multiple fans insulted Williams, who is Black, as he traversed the stands located behind the goal post-match substitution. However, authorities managed to identify only a single fan definitively, leading to his prosecution.

Subsequent to the incident, Espanyol acknowledged identifying 12 fans who racially abused Williams and claimed to have taken appropriate actions against them. Television broadcasts showed Williams confronting the offending supporters in the Espanyol section after being subjected to their taunts.

Earlier in May of this year, a legal precedent was set when five Valladolid fans were found guilty of racially abusing Real Madrid's Vinícius Júnior during a 2022 match, marking Spain's pioneering conviction of racist stadium abuse as a hate crime. Additionally, the previous year saw three Valencia supporters receive eight-month custodial sentences after admitting guilt in racially abusing Vinícius in another case adjudicated not under hate crime statutes but related to professional soccer racism in Spain.

The issue of racism in Spanish soccer heated up again when a match between Athletic and Espanyol was temporarily halted earlier this year due to racially charged chants from fans. In response, the match referee invoked the anti-racism protocol, suspending the game roughly 20 minutes into the first half. Later, Williams condemned the derogatory chants, clarifying they were aimed at his colleague, Maroan Sannadi.

In a similar incident echoed by Iñaki's younger brother, Nico Williams, Spain's forward, reported experiencing "monkey" noises directed at him while he executed a corner kick in the first half of a match against Atletico Madrid held in Madrid last year. (AP)

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