With a $ 4,000 bail, they release two of the Boca fans jailed for racism

Two of the three Boca Juniors fans arrested on racism charges in Brazil have paid bail $ 4,000 each to be released and return to Buenos Aires, after being detained at the stadium during the match between Corinthians and the Argentine club for the first knockout round of Copa Libertadores.

The two fans – who were being prosecuted for the crimes of racist slurs and racism – were released by the judge on duty after spending the day detained in a Sao Paulo police prison.

The third detainee, on the other hand, is an Argentine resident in San Pablo, who will continue to be incarcerated until further determined by the courts. for lack of resourcessince he claimed to be “homeless” living on the streets of the largest city in Brazil.

In total, six Boca fans were arrested, but police found incriminating evidence for three of them.

According to investigative sources cited by the Brazilian press, the arrested Boca fans who must return to Argentina are Sebastián Palazzo and Federico Ruta, while the Brazilian resident, José Lizarraga, must continue to be detained.

Palazzo and Lizarraga are accused of the crime of racial slurs for being filmed, according to the indictment, imitating the movements of a monkey directed towards the Brazilians from the guest stand of the Neochemical Arena where the clash between Corinthians and Boca was played, ending in a goalless draw.

Ruta, while he was accused of the crime of racism for being considered the author of a Nazi salute addressed to the fans of Corinthians.

The case caused a scandal in Brazil, especially because in April, on the same stage as the Libertadores group stage match, Leandro Ponzo from Mendoza (also a Boca fan) was arrested for imitating a monkey as a racist attack against the Brazilians.

The complaints at the stadium’s police station happened in a similar way: Corinthians fans film Boca fans in the stands with their mobile phones as they make these gestures and hand them over to the police and the court who intervenes in the party, with which the causes are opened.

The case of racism recorded in April cost Ponzo, a merchant of General Alvear, the payment of a bailand $ 600 (3,000 reais)but before leaving Brazil he posted a video on Instagram mocking the police authorities who had arrested him.

Now, Commissioner Cézar Saad, of the Major Events Police Headquarters, explained to Télam that the bail has been increased to 20 thousand reais (4 thousand dollars) to try to crack down on new racist attacks in stadiums during the Copa Libertadores.

“We have decided to raise the bail because this Copa Libertadores it became a scene of racial slurs as it hadn’t been seen for a long time“said Saad, head of security operations at the Corinthians stadium.

The morning after the game turned into a parade of witnesses, video footage of the fans and the police and Argentines trying to explain in a complicated portuñol that his arm movements were not racist.

An official defense attorney from the San Pablo criminal jurisdiction acted as the legal representative of the detainees, while the staff of the Argentine Consulate in San Pablo accompanied the entire proceedings.

The accused of giving the Nazi salute against the Corinthians was initially released, but further evidence of his stance in the stadium’s security cameras confirmed the suspicions.

This fact, labeled a “racial slur”, occurs only three days after Boca was fined by Conmebol with the payment of $ 100,000 Precisely because of the racist insults made by the “xeneizes” fans at Corinthians during the meeting last May at the Bombonera, for Zone E of the group stage of this Copa Libertadores.

The police station located in the basement of the stadium in the Itaquera neighborhood, east of Sao Paulo, was also approached by a member of Boca Juniors, a lawyer, to learn about the matter.

The racism scandal occurred after the bus that transported the team and Boca management from the hotel to the stadium before the match was hit by stones that broke one of the windows.

Several Boca fans have reported that it wasn mistreated by the police upon arrival at the Corinthians stadiuminaugurated for the 2014 World Cup and where the Argentine national team won the semi-final on penalties against the Netherlands in that event.

With information from Telam

DB