SURABAYA, Indonesia (Reuters) – An Indonesian court on Thursday sentenced a soccer match referee to one and a half years in prison after convicting him of negligence in one of the world’s deadliest stadium stampedes.
The October 2022 derby in Malang, East Java, between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya ended in chaos with 135 spectators killed, many crushed as they fled for the exits after police fired tear gas into the crowd.
The referee for the match, Abdul Haris, was found guilty “due to his negligence leading to the death of people,” the Surabaya court judge said.
The defendant’s legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An investigation by Indonesia’s human rights commission found the root cause of the stampede was police firing 45 rounds of tear gas into the crowd, which world soccer governing body FIFA has banned as a crowd control measure.
Another party official will hear his verdict later on Thursday, while three policemen are also charged with the same offenses with their cases to be decided at a later date.