At the end of a day of hearing, the judgment of the Saint-Etienne criminal court has been reserved for November 23. On May 29, during this play-off match at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium (1-1, 4-5 on penalties) which saw the relegation of the Greens to L2, smoke bombs and projectiles were notably launched in the stands causing tens of thousands of euros in damage.
The statements of the defendants, aged 21 to 34, claiming to have “found on the ground at the foot of the stands” the smoke bombs they launched from the lawn did not convince the public prosecutor.
“A stroke of madness”
“We were not in a fit of madness, but in acts of delinquency”, declared the deputy prosecutor who demanded in his indictment “stadia bans of two to five years” depending on the case, and penalties from four months suspended sentence to eight months firm.
The defense lawyers stressed for their part that their clients “work and are not hooligans (…). They all love ASSE and let themselves be carried away spontaneously, without consultation between them , by an excess of passion, an excess of anger”.
Several videos taken by the cameras of the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium were projected in the courtroom, showing from different angles an invasion of the lawn by several hundred people, the firing of several dozen smoke bombs towards the official stand, causing fires to start.
86,000 euros of damage
“We must not make examples of them”, nevertheless declared the representative of the prosecution about the defendants, who all expressed regret, considering that many other perpetrators of the violence that day had passed through the meshes of the net.
Me Laurent Vérilhac, of the defense, insisted on “the values of commitment, solidarity and generosity of which the groups of supporters carry”, to which belong the majority of the defendants.
In addition to ASSE, the Professional Football League and the metropolis of Saint-Étienne were represented at the hearing on Wednesday. Complaints for 80,000 euros in damage to stadium facilities and 6,000 euros in damage to public space outside the stadium were filed shortly after the events.