In Brief : Free 2 in Soccer Case, Official Asks

The prosecutor in the Heysel riot trial today said that Britons charged with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of 39 soccer fans at the 1985 European Champions’ Cup final should be acquitted and that evidence against eight others was inconclusive.

Prosecutor Pierre Erauw also said 15 other Britons standing trial should be convicted. “The sentence should be an example,” said Erauw. “Make sure the decision incites no one to raze the memory of” the tragedy, he said.

He also asked one case to be severed from the rest because the suspect is jailed in Britain on an unrelated case.

The judge’s decision is expected in March.

If convicted, the British suspects face up to 10 years in jail but Erauw called for terms of only up to four years.

He was harsher for two Belgian state police officials and a Belgian soccer federation official, saying they should be convicted. Each faces up to two years in jail.

The 26 Britons are on trial accused of instigating Europe’s worst ever soccer riot at the Heysel Stadium here before the Cup final between Juventus Turin and FC Liverpool that killed 39 people and injured about 500.