“Case Closed”: No Possibility For Napoli Defender To Appeal Not Guilty Verdict For Inter Milan Defender In Alleged Racism Case

Napoli defender Juan Jesus cannot appeal the “not guilty” verdict for Inter Milan’s Francesco Acerbi in an alleged racism incident.

Italian news outlet Gazzetta.it report that it is “case closed” after the Sporting Judge found the 36-year-old Nerazzurri defender not guilty and did not sanction him.

Earlier today, Sporting Judge Gerardo Mastrandrea delivered the verdict in the case involving Acerbi and Jesus during a Serie A match between Inter and Napoli earlier this month.

The Sporting Justice found Acerbi to be “not guilty.”

This does not mean that Mastrandrea came to the conclusion that the 36-year-old didn’t use racially discriminatory language.

However, the Judge’s verdict is that there is not sufficient evidence to find Acerbi guilty.

Therefore, Acerbi will not receive any sanction as a result of the incident.

The former Lazio and Sassuolo would have been at the risk of a lengthy ban had Mastrandrea found him guilty.

Under the Code of Sporting Justice in Italy, the minimum suspension for racial discrimination offenses is ten matches.

“Case Closed”: No Chance For Juan Jesus To Appeal Francesco Acerbi Verdict

Therefore, Mastrandrea’s verdict means that Acerbi will not miss the rest of the season through suspension.

Moreover, the Gazzetta report, it is a fairly ironclad verdict.

The reason, the newspaper detail, concerns the manner in which the case was managed.

Everything went through Sporting Judge Mastandrea. The Sporting Judge did have the prosecutors’ office of the Italian FA carry out the investigation.

But it was the Judge who ultimately assessed the investigation that the prosecutors’ office – led by Giuseppe Chine – had gathered.

And it was Mastandrea who delivered the verdict.

Therefore, the verdict is not “against” Napoli defender Jesus per se. The Brazilian essentially had no involvement in proceedings, except to give his version of events to Chine.

As such, there would be no scope for Jesus to appeal the verdict.

Accordingly, the Gazzetta report, there would be no chance that Acerbi receives any sanction after today’s verdict.