BELGRADE – The four ringleaders of Serbian soccer fans convicted of killing a supporter of French club Toulouse ahead of a Europa League match in 2009 were each sentenced to up to 35 years in prison yesterday.
Two of them, Djordje Prelic and Dejan Puzigaca, are still on the run but were sentenced to 35 and 32 years respectively after being tried in absentia.
Ivan Grkovic and Ljubomir Markovic got 30 years each, four other fans were sentenced to 14 years each and another four got 12 years each after being found guilty of killing Toulouse supporter Brice Taton in central Belgrade.
A group of Partizan Belgrade fans attacked Toulouse fans in September 2009, using baseball bats, iron bars and flares to beat up Taton, who died in a Belgrade hospital 12 days after the attack.
Police were deployed in large numbers inside and outside the court yesterday after dozens of Partizan fans gathered with the relatives of the accused.
Serbian soccer has been hit on repeated occasions by violence in the last 20 years, with fighting between rival fans resulting in several deaths and hundreds of serious injuries.