Filenews 20 January 2024
Any fan who comes to the stadium in order to attend a football match and refuses or refrains from giving a saliva sample in order to check whether he used drugs, is guilty of a misdemeanor and if convicted, is liable to imprisonment not exceeding one year or to a fine not exceeding €2,000 or to both of these penalties.
It is understood that the same applies if he gives a saliva sample and it is found that he used drugs.
Moreover, anyone who refuses to give an exhalation sample for alcohol testing is taken out of the stadium/stands. If he refuses to leave the venue, he could be jailed for up to a month or fined up to €2,000.
Those who do not catch the eye of the police officers will be checked, who will be responsible for maintaining order. Police officers will also be able to conduct body searches to identify dangerous objects.
Moreover, a match may be postponed even after information or reasonable suspicion that incidents may occur.
The above measures are provided for in the bill (the Prevention and Suppression of Violence in Sports Venues) that has been submitted before the House of Representatives.
As far as alcohol control is concerned, it is reported that someone is considered to have "pinched" when his exhalation exceeds 39 millionths of a gram (micrograms) of alcohol in 100 milliliters of exhalation.
The new Article 28A, which is incorporated into the new legislation, also states that:
When conducting a match or event at a sports venue, any member of the Police who has reasonable suspicion that a person entering the immediate vicinity with the intention of entering the sports venue or who is inside the sports ground, has any amount of alcohol in his body, may request that person to give an exhalation sample on the spot for an initial alcohol test.
The entry into, or stay in, a person who, according to the initial alcohol test, exceeds 39 millionths of a gram (micrograms) of alcohol in 100 milliliters of exhalation, or who refuses or avoids, without reasonable cause, to give in any way the sample requested shall be prohibited and that person shall be obliged to leave immediately the area and the area immediately adjacent to him suggestion of the member of the Police and is led out of the sports area and the immediately adjacent area.
At the same time, the bill provides:
The person who refuses to leave immediately the sports ground and the immediate vicinity, in accordance with the instructions of the member of the Police, pursuant to the provisions of subsection (2), commits an offence that allows his arrest and removal from the sports ground and the immediate vicinity and, if convicted, is liable to imprisonment not exceeding one month or to a fine not exceeding €2,000 or both these penalties.
When the person being checked is "clean", the Police are not entitled to keep their details. It is noted that even if a person is found to have consumed more than the permissible amount of alcohol, after the completion of the match and the departure of all spectators or fans from the sports venue and the immediately adjacent area, his data is destroyed.
A person who, without reasonable cause, refuses or avoids in any way to give the saliva samples requested in accordance with subsection (6) is guilty of a misdemeanor and if convicted, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding one year or to a fine not exceeding €2,000 or to both of these penalties.
In the bill and in order to prevent incidents, it is provided that in case the Chief of Police informs the relevant federation, by means of a written reasoned report, that in a sports match or championship organized by it, fans of the competing teams exhibit such behaviour, or there is information, or reasonable suspicion that they may exhibit behaviour that causes or may cause incidents of violence, inside and/or outside sports venues, or disrupt public order or the safe conduct of sports competitions between them, the federation, in consultation with the Chief of Police, decides, depending on the risk assessment, the implementation of one of the following measures, which, under the circumstances, is considered the most appropriate:
(a) Prohibition of movement of fans of the away team, in the matches played between the host and away teams.
(b) The conduct of matches between the host and away teams, without fans.
(c) The non-conduct of the match between the host and away teams.
It is understood that these measures are imposed on the basis of a risk assessment for a specific number of matches played between the above teams, which may be increased when necessary.
What the Attorney General says
The explanatory memorandum accompanying the bill, signed by the Attorney General, also records the following:
The bill entitled (Law amending the Prevention and Suppression of Violence in Sports Venues Law) aims to strengthen the measures provided by the Basic Law to address violence in sports venues, as follows:
- The amendment to Article 22 of the Basic Law aims to install closed circuit surveillance systems in any sports venue used for the holding of a match or event in which a club, sports company or first-class club takes part or which has an international dimension, regardless of capacity.
- Articles (Articles 25, 26, 27 and 28) are amended in order to intensify the physical search of fans, to detect and confiscate illegal and dangerous objects by the Police.
For a person convicted three times, the fourth time the court can impose a prison sentence of up to 10 years. Specifically:
(a) Article 73 of the Basic Law is amended which provides that the Court, in addition to any other penalty it issues in the case of first, second and so on convictions, and a decree of exclusion from a competition or event or prohibition of entry to sports venues for a specific period of time, aims to increase this period in order to make the measure more dissuasive; as follows: First conviction:
From "six months to one year" to "one year to two years".
Second conviction: From "one year to two years" to "two years to four years".
Third conviction: From "two years to four years" to "four years to six years".
More convictions: From "four to six years" to "six years to ten years".
(b) Article 55B is amended in order to strengthen the control of a fan card in sports venues with the involvement of the Police in the relevant controls and the prohibition of entry to the sports venue to any person who does not hold a valid fan card.
