Surabaya (Indonesia): An Indonesian court on Thursday jailed a policeman but cleared two other officers of negligence over crowd control measures at a local soccer match that led to one of the world's deadliest stadium stampedes.

The October, 2022, derby in Malang, East Java, between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya ended in chaos with 135 spectators killed, many crushed as they fled for exits after police fired tear gas into the crowd.

Last week, two Arema FC match officials were also jailed for negligence, in the first verdicts over the stampede.

ADVERTISEMENT

One of the policemen, Hasdarmawan, was on Thursday sentenced to one and a half years in prison.

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

Investigators also said the stadium was filled beyond capacity.

Indonesia's top soccer league suspended matches for several months following the incident but most games have since resumed, with some fixtures played behind closed doors due to security concerns.

ADVERTISEMENT

Indonesia is due to hold the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in May.

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.