ZAGREB, 16 August, 2022 - A 22-year-old Hajduk football fan was convicted in the Portuguese city of Guimarães for attacking a television cameraman, receiving a suspended prison sentence of one year and three months, and he must pay the cameraman €600 in damages, a local police spokesman told Hina.
A suspended sentence means he has been released, but if he commits a new criminal offence in Portugal during the specified period, he will be imprisoned and serve the sentence, the spokesman said in a telephone conversation on Tuesday.
The football fan, whose name was not revealed by the Portuguese police, was banned from football matches in the next year.
This applies to competitions organised by UEFA, but I think he will not be allowed to attend matches in Croatia or elsewhere in Europe either, the spokesman said.
The incident occurred last Thursday after a Europa Conference League qualifying match between Vitoria Guimarães and Hajduk. Vitoria won 1-0, but failed to qualify for the play-off because it had lost 1-3 in Split a week earlier.
After the match, reporters filmed Hajduk fans leaving the Afonso Henriques Stadium.
Some fans were bothered by this, so they insulted the cameramen and poured water on them, as shown by footage from Portuguese media outlets.
The convicted football fan, a Croatian citizen, lunged at a TVI and CNN Portugal cameraman in front of policemen, the police said after the incident. CNN Portugal said that he kicked their cameraman.
The fan was immediately arrested and, on Friday, brought before an investigating judge in Guimarães, a city in the north of Portugal, where he was sentenced.
He damaged the reporter's camera and must pay him €600 in damages, the police spokesman said.
The fan and his lawyer were not available to Hina for comment.
