Indonesia court jails policeman over deadly soccer stampede in October 2022, clears 2 officers

AnIndonesian court on Thursdayjailedapolicemanbut cleared two other officers of negligenceovercrowd control measures at a local soccer match that led to one of the world's deadlieststadiumstampedes. The October 2022 derby in Malang, East Java, between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya ended in chaos with 135 spectators killed, manycrushed as they fled for exits after police fired tear gas into the crowd.

Last week, two Arema FC match officials were alsojailedfor negligence, in the first verdictsoverthe stampede. 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. An investigation byIndonesia'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 thestadiumwas 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. Indonesiais due to hold the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in May.