The trial against the Sevilla FC fan accused of calling Real Madrid FC player Vinicius Jr. "monkey" during a La Liga match held in October 2023 at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán stadium, and whose hearing was scheduled for this Tuesday, September 22, at the Provincial Court of Seville, has finally been postponed until May 2027.
The new date set for the oral hearing is May 13, following a request made by one of the parties involved in the case, according to what Europa Press has learned. For these facts, the accused faces a request from the Prosecutor's Office for one year and nine months in prison.
According to the provisional conclusions written by the Public Prosecutor's Office, on October 21, 2023, the match between Sevilla FC and Real Madrid CF took place at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, corresponding to the tenth round of the First Division championship.
Between minutes 83 and 86 of the match, the defendant, who at that moment was occupying his seat in the Gol Norte stand, "very close to the playing field," and while the Real Madrid player was on the grass, "repeatedly directed insults at him with evident contempt for the black color of the player's skin."
According to the accusation, he even shouted "racist contemptuous shouts and gestures towards him, causing feelings of frustration, shame, and humiliation, with the consequent undermining of intrinsic dignity."
These behaviors consisted, specifically, of imitating the movements typical of primates and shouting the word "monkey," in addition to making onomatopoeias that reproduced the sound of monkeys: "uh, uh, uh, uh."
The prosecutor's document emphasizes that this type of expression "as is public and notorious, has been uttered on various occasions by groups of fans from different countries to publicly offend black-skinned footballers during the course of a football match."
The events occurred, the Prosecutor's Office emphasizes, in front of the other spectators present in the stadium who were watching the football match and "before a significant television, radio, and written and digital media audience."
For the Public Prosecutor's Office, the described conduct constitutes a crime against moral integrity, for which the Sevilla supporter is held as the author, reason for which it maintains the request for a sentence of one year and nine months in prison.