Football fans punished, banned from matches over violence

Prague, March 5 (CTK) - A Prague court Tuesday imposed three-year suspended prison sentences and 3-10 year bans from their club's matches on six Czech football fans who brutally attacked supporters of a rival team at one of the city's metro (underground) stations in September 2012.

The six young men, aged from 20 to 31, were travelling home from a match of their team, Slavia Praha, and they met two fans of Slavia's traditional rival Sparta who returned from a different match.

The camera system at the metro station showed that the six men pushed the two rival fans out of a metro carriage, knocked them down, brutally kicked them and ran away. Other passengers were present to the attack.

One of the victims suffered brain concussion, a broken nose and bruises.

The identity of the other man remains unknown. A court expert said the beaten-up boy was rather lucky because his injuries might have been much worse.

The court ruled that the charges of disturbing the peace and attempted serious bodily harm were proven.

All the attackers apologised for their conduct in court Tuesday. The group said it attacked the two men because it had been provoked by their aggressive shouting.

The state attorney said the most aggressive of the group was 26-year-old Tomas Skvarla who had already been punished for the breach of peace three times before. She proposed that Skvarla receive a four-year sentence in a heavily guarded prison.

However, the judge decided to impose only a suspended sentence on Skarla but banned him from Slavia's matches for ten years.

The attorney has not yet decided whether to appeal the verdict in Skvarla's case.

Vaclav Prat, one of the attackers, is considering appealing the verdict, too. He said he believes the court should acquit him of all charges.

The four other suspended sentences have taken effect.