Prosecutorial authorities in the eastern city of Vukovar have conducted preliminary interviews with four men, suspected of assaulting a supporter of the Serbian Partizan football club in Vukovar last week, asking that two of the suspects be placed in custody, a motion that was dismissed by the court.

One of the four suspects, a 25-year-old man, is suspected of having put together, together with a 24-year-old man, a group of supporters of the Dinamo Zagreb football club, called Bad Blue Boys, with the plan to settle a score with the Partizan supporter with whom he had previously come into conflict over his being a supporter of the Serbian football club and about whom he had learned that he would be in a local cafe.

The 25-year-old let three identified and four as yet unidentified suspects drive in a van he had rented to the parking lot of a local hotel, where they waited in ambush for the victim to arrive, dressed in dark clothes and wearing masks.

When the victim arrived in the parking lot in the company of two men, the assailants sprayed them with pepper spray and attacked them with clubs and hammers.

The 24-year-old is believed to have taken the attackers to the parking lot in the van.

The local prosecutor’s office has said that it will appeal against the investigating judge’s decision not to remand the two main suspects in custody and to impose precautionary measures instead.

The 25-year-old and 24-year-old are charged with aiding and abetting the other two suspects in an attempt to inflict serious bodily harm while the latter are charged with an attempt to inflict serious bodily harm.