Soccer: Defendants fail to appear at Leeds fans stabbing trial

An Istanbul court today postponed the trial of five Turks charged with stabbing two Leeds United soccer fans to death last year after three suspects failed to appear.

Presiding Judge Iskender Tepebasi said he was postponing the trial to February 11 to give the absent defendants a final chance to appear in court.

He also ruled that a main suspect in the case, Ali Umit Demir, should remain in prison.

All the defendants except Demir have been on bail since trial began last year.

It was not clear why three of them didn’t attend court today but some suspects have also missed previous hearings.

Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight were stabbed to death in April 2000, on the eve of a UEFA Cup semifinal game between Leeds and Galatasaray in Istanbul.

Prosecutors have demanded prison sentences of up to 30 years for Demir and four others accused of killing the English fans.

Fourteen other suspects accused of involvement in the fighting and one who is charged with concealing weapons from police face sentences of up to five years.

At today’s hearing, prosecutor Sukru Alpaslan repeated his demand that ‘‘all the defendants be punished,’’ arguing that forensic and video evidence was enough to incriminate them.

Defence lawyer Fuat Akkoyunlu said the police inquiry into the stabbings was flawed, and added that he would make a final defence statement at the next hearing.