Suspects from La Familia Beitar Jerusalem
Suspects from La Familia Beitar JerusalemFlash90

After 59 members of "La Familia," a fanbase of the soccer team Beitar Yerushalayim, were arrested, 19 were indicted today, while the rest were freed or released to house arrest.

Police carried out a country-wide sting operation over a period of six months, leading to the arrest of 59 members of La Familia in one day last week. The suspects had been variously accused of drug trafficking, owning illegal weapons, and the attempted murder of a Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer fan.

Many of the suspects were since release. After the La Familia organization accused the undercover cop of being a drug addict in the past, and rendering his testimony invalid, only 19 of the suspects were indicted.

The indictment accuses the Jerusalem soccer fans of attempted murder, tampering with serious intent, aggravated robbery, racism offenses, weapons offenses, and sports violence offenses both in-country and abroad.

Prosecution requested that the suspects' detentions be extended until the end of the proceedings, when it became clear that the court was not inclined to hold them for long.

The prosecutors also intend to indict nine of the released La Familia suspects through other channels, as their drug-trafficking charges had been invalidated by the involvement of the undercover agent.