The French justice system has sentenced seven individuals to prison for a period of up to two years for committing racially aggravated attacks in Lyon, associated with the African Nations Football Cup in 2019.
According to French justice authorities, five of the defendants were sentenced to four years in prison, and two of them were granted suspended sentences.
Another defendant was sentenced to one year in prison, six months of which was suspended, while the seventh was given a one-year suspended sentence.
The ages of the defendants range between 22 and 34 years. It is suspected that these seven men participated in assaults on the evening of 19 July 2019, in downtown Lyon, following Algeria’s victory in the final of the African Nations Cup.
They were identified as part of a group of around thirty individuals, incited by an extremist right-wing movement to attack Algerian supporters. Many of them were armed with iron bars and baseball bats.
The majority of the defendants claimed that they were not part of “any group” and denied the occurrence of violence.
Following the deliberation on the racist violence charges in the trial held on 7 July 2023, the Lyon Correctional Court issued its judgment. The seven defendants were found guilty and sentenced to several terms of imprisonment.
Two were sentenced to four years in prison, two of which were suspended. Other sentences ranged from six months to two years for the remaining five culprits.
