Suspended prison sentence for a Lille supporter

He was arrested after the incidents that occurred during the Ligue 1 Lens-Lille match in mid-September. A 27-year-old Lille supporter was sentenced on Monday to eight months in prison for having launched a siege from the stands and injured a CRS.

The penalty was accompanied by a stadium ban for Losc matches and all matches at the Bollaert stadium in Lens for 18 months. The young man will have to report to the Béthune police station during each match and pay 1,500 euros to the injured CRS.

Land invasion

On September 18, at half-time in the derby between the rival clubs of RC Lens and Losc, dozens of Lensois supporters invaded the field to fight against Lille, who had torn seats to throw them on supporters artesians. The clashes, limited by the intervention of the CRS, left six slightly injured.

At the hearing this Monday, the accused Thomas H. admitted having broken a seat of the gallery with a gesture of the foot, then having launched it in the direction of the lawn, where CRS were deployed. One of the CRS had received this seat on the leg and had been injured in the tibia, scene recorded by the video surveillance of the stadium. Falling under the shock of the projectile, he had been evacuated. He had received a 7-day break from work.

“I didn’t think I was hurting anyone, I couldn’t see in front of me. (…) I made a stupid mistake, ”said this man with a clean criminal record, who appeared free under judicial supervision.

“The group effect”

Hands clasped behind his back, he assured that he had not targeted anyone, taken by the “group effect”, while insults and projectiles were fired between supporters of the two clubs since the start of the meeting.

At the time of the facts, he was just a member of the Lille supporters club of Ultras Dogues Virage Est, with which he had only attended one Losc match. “He is the only one to appear while the abuses were committed by a dozen people on both sides,” denounced the counsel of Thomas H., Me Sandra Bonnet.

“He has no hatred towards Lens. He is a supporter who wanted to live his passion and who unfortunately gave in to his impulses, ”she underlined, seeing“ the biggest mistake of her life ”.

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