MADRID – Four people accused of hanging a likeness of Real Madrid player Vinícius Júnior on a motorway bridge were released from custody on Thursday while still being investigated for committing a hate crime.
A Spanish judge in Madrid banned the four people from attempting to communicate with Vinícius. They also have an injunction prohibiting them from being within one kilometer of the Madrid stadium and training grounds and the same distance from one between four hours before and four hours after a Spanish league match stop football stadium.
The court statement said the four people were also being investigated for attempting to harm Vinícius’s moral integrity. It added that the four chose not to answer the judge’s questions during their first court appearance, in accordance with their constitutional rights.
The effigy incident happened on January 26 ahead of a derby match between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid.
But it wasn’t until Tuesday that the police made the arrests a public uproar that’s what Spain captured after the recent episode of racist slurs against Vinícius.
Police also arrested three people on Tuesday is accused of using racial slurs at Vinícius during a match on Saturday in Valencia at the Mestalla stadium where parts of the stands will be closed for the next five games. These three were also released from custody.
Vinícius, 22, who is black, has been repeatedly subjected to racial slurs since arriving from his native Brazil five years ago.
In Spain, hate crimes usually carry a prison sentence of between one and four years, while crimes against a person’s moral integrity carry prison sentences of between six and 24 months.
On Thursday, the Spanish Ombudsman’s office asked the country’s Supreme Sports Council, the government’s sports agency, for more information about the racist slurs against Vinícius during the match in Valencia. The office said it had received complaints from “two Brazilian civil society organizations” about the abuse and was in contact with its counterpart in the South American country.
In a statement, the ombudsman explained that Spanish law prohibits any act of racism, xenophobia or intolerance at sporting events.
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