Serbia resolves to end football violence in 2010

21/12/2009

The state prosecutor called for a ban on extremist soccer groups after the murder of a French soccer fan in Belgrade in September.

By Igor Jovanovic for Southeast European Times in Belgrade -- 21/12/09

Protestors carry a banner that reads 'Stop To Violence' in central Belgrade. [Getty Images]

The Serbian Ministry of Defence is taking measures to make sure that sporting events are safer in the New Year. "The government must solve the problem of violence in sports and the threat of hooliganism among fans," Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac told Belgrade-based B92.

"As long as the fences and the barricade nets are there we have failed to resolve the issue," said Sutanovac. "I am deeply convinced that next year should produce an outcome in the fight to crush hooliganism at sports events in Serbia."

The initiative comes after a wave of violence in the country that has led to at least seven deaths since 2002.

In September, a French football fan, Brice Taton, 28, died after being brutally beaten following a match between Belgrade's Partizan and French club Toulouse, sparking about 5,000 protestors to take to the streets of the Serbian capital.

About a dozen suspects were arrested in connection to the incident. If convicted, they each face up to 40 years in prison.

Another suspect is on the run, and is believed to be hiding in the Netherlands "under the protection of one of the leading Serbian drug cartels", said Interior Minister Ivica Dacic.

Serbians light candles and lay flowers at Belgrade's main square in memory of murdered French football fan Brice Taton. [Getty Images]

Last week, 24-year-old Bojan Hrvatin was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 30 years in jail for stabbing a rival soccer fan dead in 2006. Three other fans of the Belgrade club Rad were sentenced to up to three years in prison for taking part in the brawl.

In 2007, a fan of the Belgrade team Red Star attacked an off duty cop with a burning flare and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted murder. Another Red Star fan was killed by a flare that was hurled from a group of Partizan supporters about a decade ago.

Also in 2007, Partizan fans were involved in riots in the Bosnian town of Mostar, which resulted in the expulsion of the Belgrade-based club from the UEFA Cup. The fans took part in the making of the British documentary "The Real Football Factories", where they did not conceal that they owned weapons and revealed details of their fights with other fan groups.

However, the violence isn't contained to the soccer field, as journalists reporting on the crimes are also at risk.

B92 Radio and Television journalist Brankica Stankovic received death threats via Facebook after reporting on criminal activities involving leaders of Serbian football fan groups, SETimes reported earlier this month.

"It is not the threats that worry me so much but the fact that they are still powerful enough," Stankovic told Athens' daily Kathimerini. "It's a scandal that journalists in Serbia have to work under police protection. All this is happening after the state said it will deal with them."

In an attempt to nip violence in the bud, Serbian state prosecutor Slobodan Radovanovic in October called on the constitutional court to ban 14 extremist soccer fan groups.

Supporters of the Partizan Belgrade football club -- also called Gravediggers. [Getty Images]

The prosecutor told a news conference that he was proposing the ban because fan groups had been calling for "the violent dissolution of constitutional order, the violation of guaranteed minority and human rights and the causing of racial, religious and ethnically motivated hate".

"They have nothing in common with sports, rather they have much more in common with crime," said Radovanovic about the extremist sports groups.

This proposal, as Radovanovic put it, is the continuation of Serbia's determined fight against all extremist organisations.

Radovanovic's initiative did not stop at fan groups. The prosecutor also called for the launching of a court process against Red Star soccer club President Vladan Lukic for appearing at a match in a sweatshirt emblazoned with the lyrics of a fan song that, according to the prosecutor, is a call to violence.

However, Serbian Soccer Association President Tomislav Karadzic said it would take a long time to get on the right track. He warned that the task could not be carried out without breaking illegal links between fans and club management.

"We also have to look at who the candidates for managerial posts in soccer are. Apart from honorable people, there are those involved in crime, those who have been in prison, are or will be indicted," Radovanovic said.

A new law that will severely penalise misdemeanors at sporting events, modeled according to British regulations, came into effect in September.

Despite the recent efforts to thwart violence in soccer, some think the government has done too little too late. Belgrade analyst Zoran Dragisic believes officials could have already dealt with hooligan groups and extremist organisations.

"The problem lies with the politicians, who lack the courage to start that fight because they believe it would result in the loss of support from a number of voters," Dragisic said.

(Reuters-13/12/09; Sports Illustrated-10/12/09; Kathimerini-08/12/09)