14 Britons Sentenced to 3 Years for Roles in 1985 Belgian Soccer Riot That Killed 39

Fourteen British soccer fans were convicted of involuntary manslaughter today and sentenced to three years in prison for their roles in a 1985 riot that killed 39 people at Heysel Stadium.

The fans, all from Liverpool, also were fined $1,538 each. Eleven fans were acquitted.

The three-judge panel that handed down the verdicts suspended half of each prison sentence. Afterward, the 14 convicted fans left Belgium. They have 15 days to appeal their sentence.

The 14 have already served six months in pretrial custody, which means that they probably will serve no more than a few months behind bars. In Belgium, convicts generally serve a third of their sentence.

After the May 29, 1985, disaster, English soccer clubs, such as Liverpool and Manchester United, were banned from European competition. The ban did not affect England’s national teams, which can still compete for the European Cup and the World Cup.

The verdicts came in the wake of Britain’s worst sports disaster. On April 15, 95 people were killed in a stadium stampede when fans tried to crowd into a standing-room-only section during a match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in Sheffield, England.

Albert Roosens, the former Belgian Soccer Federation chairman, was given a six-month suspended sentence for negligence and poor organization of the Heysel soccer match.

A senior police officer, Johan Mahieu, received a nine-month suspended sentence for grave omissions of duty.

Five officials were held blameless.

They included Jacques Georges, president of the European Union of Football Assns., Europe’s ruling soccer body; former organization General Secretary Hans Bangerter, and Michel Kensier, a Belgian police officer.

“I wish wholeheartedly we will never have to face court again and that soccer will only bring family entertainment from now on,” Georges said.

Also acquitted were Brussels Mayor Herve Brouhon and Viviane Baro, a former Brussels alderman for sports.

In addition to the 39 deaths, more than 500 people were injured when Liverpool fans rioted at Belgium’s Heysel Stadium just before the start of the 1985 European soccer championship final between Liverpool and Juventus Turin of Italy.

Belgian authorities had requested the extradition of 26 Britons based on videotapes and pictures showing British fans tearing down the flimsy fence separating them from Italian supporters.

The invasion of the stands caused a panic during which victims were trampled to death as they tried to flee. Most of the victims were Italian.