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British court finds soccer player guilty of anti-gay gesture

British court finds soccer player guilty of anti-gay gesture
Colin Kazim-Richards
Colin Kazim-Richards

BRIGHTON, England — A British court has found Turkish forward Colin Kazim-Richards guilty of making an anti-gay hand gesture at a match while playing for Blackburn.

The 27-year-old claimed he was bantering with the crowd at his former club Brighton when he made the gesture during the second-tier match in February 2013.

At one point, Kazim-Richards was seen by a witness backing into Brighton player Wayne Bridge and simulating a sex act which was deemed to be homophobic, the court was told.

Magistrate Darren Reynolds, sitting at Brighton Magistrates’ Court, called the gestures “insulting.”

Kazim-Richards, who currently plays for the Turkish club Bursaspor, was fined 750 pounds ($1,256), ordered to pay 620 pounds ($1,038) of court costs and a 75-pound ($126) victim surcharge.

Fans of the second-tier English club Brighton last year published a dossier highlighting the constant anti-gay abuse they face at matches.

Associated Press contributed to this report.
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