One month exactly after the meeting between OGC Nice and OM which was stopped in the 78th minute, Tony, the Nice supporter suspected of assaulting Marseille player Dimitri Payet, was on trial this Wednesday afternoon. After two hours of hearing, prosecutor Clémence Bravais requested one year of “adaptable” imprisonment, including six suspended sentences, and five years of ban on appearing in a stadium, the maximum penalty, deeming this behavior “unworthy of ‘a supporter “. The deliberation will be delivered next Thursday, September 30.
“The proposed sanction is heavy but justified in view of the context, reacted after the hearing, the lawyer Delphine Maillet representing the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP), who, for the first time, brought a civil action. The supporters must know that there is a penalty if they ever dare to go down on a football field. Justice must take a firm stand on this affair ”.
During her plea, she claimed “a symbolic euro in damages”. This is also requested by his colleagues, who represented the Professional Football League (LFP), Dimitri Payet as well as OM, for “compensation for the moral damage they suffer”. The lawyers all insisted on the need for the additional penalty to “protect the players, the image of football and fight against violence. “
“I apologize to all those who have seen these images”
During the hearing, the 28-year-old Nice supporter admitted the charges without being able to provide more details on “the main question”, according to the judge: “What were his intentions by going into the field? “. His only justification was to “want explanations” of the gesture of the Marseille player, who had just launched towards the Nice platform, a bottle which had received it.
Tony C., repeated several times, in a quavering voice, “regret his gesture”, acknowledging that it was “inappropriate” and apologized to “all those who saw these images”, stressing his role “more of a big brother” in the stands. “This gesture has nothing to do in a stadium,” he admitted stammering. His lawyer, Benjamin Taieb returned to the accusations of “willful violence in meetings”, specifying that he had “acted alone” and that “a crowd movement” had formed around him for which he was not responsible.
At the end of his immediate appearance, three days after the facts, the defendant was left free but banned from stadium and matches with the obligation to check in twice a week at the gendarmerie of Mandelieu-la-Napoule, where he resides. The disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League sanctioned Nice with three games behind closed doors and the withdrawal of one point after this chaotic meeting against Marseille, which will have to be replayed on Wednesday, October 27.