The president of the Alianza de El Salvador, Pedro Hernández, two club officials and two managers of the Cuscatlán stadium were arrested this Thursday, accused of involuntary homicide, culpable injuries and public damage after the riot that left 12 dead on Saturday at a football matchinformed the Attorney General.
“It appears from the investigations carried out that the enabled gates were not sufficient for the number of fans,” said the Attorney General’s Office in the Twitter.
The only accesses, moreover, “were not opened early enough for an orderly and safe entry”, highlighted the justice body. Organizers, “when running out of tickets available for the sporting event, decided to illegally sell tickets issued for previous games,” he said.
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Oversold triggered “human avalanche”
According to the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), “carelessness in the organization and greed, when selling too much, generated a human avalanche that caused the loss of lives, in addition to injuries and endangered the safety of the participants”.
In addition to Hernández, the other Alianza inmates are security manager Edwin Abarca Ventura and finance manager Zoila Córdova. Also detained were the general manager of EDESSA, the company that manages the Cuscatlán stadium, Reynaldo Avelar Contreras, and the person responsible for the keys to the stadium, Samuel García Montano.
In this way and after investigative procedures, the Public Prosecutor’s Office assured that “those responsible for the tragedy that occurred at the Cuscatlán Stadium have been identified.”
Up to 12 years in prison
The detainees will be taken to court in the coming days and, if found guilty, could be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.
According to the Penal Code, for manslaughter they can face up to four years in prison, for culpable injuries up to two years and for the crime of damages from three to six years.
On Saturday, the riot occurred in the quarter-final second leg between Alianza and FAS, which, according to the referee’s report, was suspended after 15 minutes to allow the affected fans to be attended to.
The confusion, in addition to the 12 deaths, caused 500 medical consultations in the stadium itself, and 88 people were hospitalized with various injuries. Most have already been discharged.
The first sanction that Alianza received was from the Salvadoran Football Federation (Fesfut), which on Tuesday, through a resolution of the Disciplinary Committee, held it responsible for the riot, which is why it declared it the loser of the match against FAS (2 to 0), and for a year will play behind closed doors.
The resolution states that Alianza “did not adopt measures that led to the prevention of events or did so in a negligent way”, since the security measures and mechanisms for controlling access to the stadium, among others, “were manifestly insufficient and deficient “.
Alianza will also have to pay a fine of US$30,000 (R$150,240 at current prices), which must be paid before July 21.
Fesfut and the Major League clubs decided this Wednesday to end the Clausura tournament, which was in the quarterfinals. The closure of the tournament was decided “in response to the seriousness of the events, and the need to guarantee the security conditions of the facilities”, explained the sports entities.
In this way, the Clausura tournament could only be played until the quarterfinal first leg of the tournament.
With “the support and international advice from FIFA and Concacaf”, the parties hope to implement “better protocols that guarantee the peace of mind of fans and everyone involved in these events”.
Fesfut made it clear that there will not be a champion of the Clausura tournament.
On Wednesday, in a statement, the group called “United Players” appealed to “the leaders of the First Division to reconsider the decision” and asked that their opinion be taken into account.
With the measure, according to the players, “a large number of people who depend economically on the holding of matches are being affected”.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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