Cell and community service sentences again for riots at AZ stadium

The police judge today again sentenced seven AZ supporters who took part in the riots following AZ’s lost Conference League match against West Ham United in May. The men were sentenced to suspended jail and community service. They are also all banned from entering and visiting the AZ stadium for a year.

The men on trial today were suspected of committing open violence. Two suspects received lower sentences this morning than justice had demanded. The court in Alkmaar decided so because images of the two were shown on the TV program Opsporing Verzocht, even though they had both long since turned themselves in at the police station by then.

They are part of a group of AZ supporters who stormed the main stand of the AZ stadium on May 18, after the Alkmaarders were eliminated by West Ham United at home in the Conference League semifinals. Yesterday, seven men were already on trial for their involvement in the riots.

“I understand hectic and busy police work, but it did not go well,” the judge ruled. Justice demanded a four-week prison sentence, two of which were suspended, against both men. The court sentenced one man to 150 hours of community service, of which he must perform 144 hours, reports NH News. The other man received 120 hours of community service. The two also receive a one-year location ban.

One of the two suspects, a 45-year-old man from Alkmaar, admitted to “deliberately and hooded” confrontation with West Ham United supporters.

“I don’t remember that, but I see it on footage. If I hit someone, I’m sorry,” the man said in court. The other suspect, a 26-year-old man from Egmond, said he attacked a “pretty hefty gentleman.” “When I realized what I was doing, I immediately regretted it. I created a situation for people and became more and more ashamed.”

According to the prosecutor, a factor in the broadcast of the footage was that the men denied at the police station that they had committed any crimes. Indeed, the videos do show them, so the men were not then linked to the suspects in the images.

But the judge didn’t think that was an excuse. According to her, it “didn’t go well in both cases” and the police should have been able to make the connection before the broadcast of Opsporing Verzocht “had to look very carefully.” “It should not have happened,” the prosecution informed NH News by email. “Possibly the short time frame played a role.”

Other defendants in court today were sentenced to community service and, in some cases, prison terms of up to 30 days for assaulting West Ham supporters and attacking ME officers,