A police officer was sentenced to prison by an Indonesian court on Thursday, but two other officers were found not guilty of violating crowd control procedures at a local soccer event that resulted in one of the deadliest stadium stampedes in history.
A derby between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya in October 2022 in Malang, East Java, ended in turmoil with 135 spectators murdered, many of them were crushed as they ran for the doors after police sprayed tear gas into the crowd.
In the first sentences regarding the stampede, two Arema FC match officials were also sentenced to jail last week for carelessness. Hasdarmawan, one of the cops, was given a one and a half year prison term on Thursday.
Authorities had earlier said Hasdarmawan had ordered police to fire tear gas, which soccer’s world governing body FIFA has banned as a crowd control measure.
Two other officers, Bambang Sidik Achmadi and Wahyu Setyo Pranoto were cleared of wrongdoing and freed by the judge. Their lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
An investigation by Indonesia’s human rights commission found the main cause of the stampede was police firing into the crowd 45 rounds of tear gas.
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