Vinícius, in the trial against the Frente Atlético fans who hung a doll: "It was because of my skin color."

Real Madrid player Vinícius Jr. declared in the trial that began this Monday against four members of the Frente Atlético party accused of hanging an inflatable doll from a bridge in January 2023 wearing his shirt that what happened was due to his " skin color " and against him, which attacked his honor.

The trial began at the Provincial Court of Madrid with only the Brazilian's statement as preliminary evidence for the hearing, which will continue on June 23. The defendants arrived at the courthouse wearing dark glasses, caps, and black masks.

Section 23 of the Chamber has set June 16 for the preliminary hearing. The player appeared via videoconference from the Real Madrid Training Complex in Valdebebas in the presence of the four defendants. The statement was brought forward given that Vinícius will be called up to Real Madrid in June for the Club World Cup , being held in the United States.

In a serious tone, the footballer said that when he saw what happened on social media, he felt " very sad " because he didn't know if he and his family were in danger.

When asked if he felt offended and denigrated, he replied that he did, noting that the black figure with his jersey was hung because of his skin color and against him. He also noted that he had suffered other types of insults at the Riyadh Air Metropolitan Stadium.

"Do you think that if he were a member of another team like Rayo Vallecano , he would have hung that doll?" one of the defense attorneys asked him. He responded that it was " because of his skin color " and against him personally.

The prosecutor is seeking four years in prison for the defendants for a crime against fundamental rights and public freedoms, in the form of a crime against dignity, and another for threats. The private prosecution representing Real Madrid and the player adhere to the prosecutor's brief.

At the same time, the prosecutor is demanding civil liability compensation of 6,000 euros for the moral damages caused to the player. According to the indictment, the four young men were members of the "ultra" group known as Frente Atlético, "ideologically identified with the far right."

The facts

Thus, in the early hours of January 25-26, 2023 , before the Copa del Rey football match between Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid that was to be played at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium began at 9 p.m., the defendants went to a bridge on the M-11 road , towards Valdebebas, located near the Real Deportiva del Real Madrid sports city.

Once there, they proceeded to hang a mannequin with a rope, about 165 cm tall, with black skin and hair, wearing a Real Madrid football team shirt, with the name of the player Vinicius on the back, with his number, which it symbolized, and some stones as weights tied with insulating tape to what would represent his ankles.

They also hung a red cloth banner with white painted letters reading " Madrid hates Real Madrid " on the aforementioned bridge. It was 12.90 meters long and 1.70 meters wide.

Later, Á. BR, "as a way of vindicating and justifying the action that the four accused had carried out in a coordinated manner", published moments later through the account he managed on the social network X (formerly Twitter) where he had 1,223 followers, a first photograph of the bridge where the banner and the hanging doll appeared, which reached up to 18,000 views.

The post went viral thanks to social media exposure, achieving significant coverage, and even reaching mainstream media outlets, "thus increasing the harm to the protected legal right, which consists of human dignity," in this case both for the victim and the group she represents.

Similarly, the accused published a second photograph showing the inflatable doll at the time of preparations, with the Real Madrid player's shirt leaning against a wall, incorporating it into the hashtag #TodosSomosVini , thus increasing the contempt towards that person, "since it was used to show support for the victim and rejection of the action taken."