According to L’Équipe, two Italian fans are being judged in Paris on Wednesday over racist abuse during Paris Saint-Germain’s home Champions League tie with Juventus in September.
Fans were filmed by amateur cameras and video surveillance at the Parc des Princes imitating monkey cries and re-enacting what looked like a Nazi salute. Four people, including two brothers, were arrested as they left the stadium.
The youngest, a minor, was left free. His elder brother was placed in police custody for 48 hours and prosecuted for racist abuse alongside a third individual, who is also due to appear before a Paris criminal court on Wednesday to answer to charges of hate speech. According to information from L’Equipe, both deny any racist intent.
One of the supporters being charged is the son of the founder of Nucleo 1985, a group of Juve supporters created in the wake of the Heysel tragedy which left 39 people dead during the Liverpool-Juventus Champions League final, after a low wall and the fans’ separation gates collapsed.
Nucleo 1985 is not known to be an extreme right-wing group, on the contrary, its founder was once a left-wing activist. It is therefore surprising to find his son in the courtroom.
