QPR Midfielder Ilias Chair Plays On Despite One-Year Prison Sentence in Belgium

Found guilty of having fractured the skull of a bus driver with a stone during a fight that occurred in 2020, in Bazeilles (Belgium), Ilias Chair was sentenced on Friday to two years in prison, including one year suspended by the Belgian justice system. He also received a fine of 15,000 €. The facts occurred after a kayaking outing, while a group was waiting for a bus to return. A woman wishing to be the first to get on the vehicle had then shown aggression, before the situation degenerated, until the serious injury of the driver. Chair and two of his friends Nora H. and Jaber C. got into an argument with Niels T, a truck driver. The latter was waiting with his family for a bus to return to Belgium after a kayaking trip. "According to many people involved, Ilias Chair hit Niels T with a stone and knocked him out. The consequences were dramatic for Niels T. He suffered a serious two-centimeter skull fracture and was taken to Reims hospital in critical condition," the Antwerp prosecutor said. He added: "He then had to recover for a long time in a Belgian hospital and was unable to work as a truck driver for a long time. The blow was almost fatal to him, and he still feels the aftereffects."

Despite this conviction, the Moroccan international continues to play for his QPR club. The reason given: the Belgian system has been hampered by a huge problem of prison overcrowding in the country in recent years, reports The Sun, specifying that until September 2022, anyone sentenced to less than three years in prison does not spend a single day behind bars. Even though the laws were further tightened in September last year so that people sentenced to "effective" shorter sentences are supposed to serve at least part of that time in prison, overcrowding remains a factor. People sentenced to a prison sentence of less than two years can request to serve the sentence outside of prison. In reality, for any prison sentence of less than 18 months, Belgians generally only serve one third of the sentence imposed on them and the last six months can be spent outside of prison under electronic surveillance, it is specified.

In a statement, QPR refused to comment on the verdict: "The judicial procedure is not yet concluded and the club will therefore make no further comment at this stage