Two months before the pandemic, Iñaki Williams was rebuked at the RCD Stadium, Espanyol’s stadium.
It happened on January 25, 2020 during Espanyol-Athletic. It was running at minute 69, the moment he was substituted. Iñaki Williams left the field behind the goal of Diego López, then Espanyol’s goalkeeper, and as he passed the corner the shouts began.
–¡Uh uh uh uh!
The onomatopoeia of the monkey. They shouted in sector 108 of the stands.
“It’s something that no player who is black or of any race wants to hear. It’s totally out of place. We are all people, regardless of nationality or skin color,” Williams said.
Espanyol condemned the insults, and Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, posted on Twitter: “Today we have taken a step back from the work started years ago. The racist insults against Iñaki Williams do a lot of damage to all of Spanish football. LaLiga assumes its responsibility, we will look with the clubs for where the error is”.
Investigators located the fan who had uttered the insults, and the Hate Crimes Prosecutor’s Office and LaLiga opened proceedings.
During the investigation of the process, in his statement by videoconference before the judge, in March 2021, Iñaki Willams said that he had felt “humiliated” by those racist insults and that he was outraged that events of this nature continue to happen today.
The Prosecutor’s Office and LaLiga have already formulated their indictments against the person responsible. LaLiga asks for two years in prison, a twelve-month fine, special disqualification from practicing any profession related to sports for more than ten years and a ban on accessing the stadium for more than five years from the prison time imposed.
The investigating court 2 of Cornellá de Llobregat has already issued the order to open the oral trial. Now we are waiting for the date for the start of the process.
