The 32-year-old man suspected of having thrown a bottle at player Dimitri Payet during the Lyon-Marseille (Ligue 1) match, interrupted Sunday evening, was sentenced to six months in prison on Tuesday. His conviction is accompanied by a probation and a ban on access to the Olympique Lyonnais stadium for five years. The prosecutor had required six months in prison to sanction the act of the defendant, who appeared before the 14th chamber of the Lyon Criminal Court, for facts of “violence with weapon by destination in a sports enclosure”.
Among the three other people taken into custody after the kick-off of the match, two, aged 18, were released for lack of evidence on the facts of possession of smoke for which they were accused. The third, aged 17 and living in Ain, will be tried by the Bourg-en-Bresse children’s judge for possession of a smoke bomb.
An “isolated case” according to OL
The poster for the 14th day of the championship was interrupted Sunday evening after only four minutes of play at Groupama Stadium, when a stream of water bottles reached Marseille captain, Dimitri Payet, at the head.
The disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League, meeting urgently on Monday at midday, has already sanctioned Olympique Lyonnais with a game behind closed doors pending its final decision expected on December 8. OL, which since Sunday evening has been talking about the action “of an isolated case” and hopes to be able to replay the match, has lodged a complaint against the suspect.
