Spartak’s Promes on trial next year for family stabbing

Dutch international footballer Quincy Promes will go on trial next year for attempted murder linked to the stabbing of a relative in 2020, a Dutch court ruled on Friday.

The 30-year-old Spartak Moscow forward is being accused of seriously wounding a cousin in the knee after a fight broke out at a family gathering in July 2020 outside Amsterdam.

“The merits of the case will be heard on March 3, 2023, with a whole day reserved,” for the hearing, an Amsterdam court official told AFP.

Promes is being charged with attempted murder, alternatively attempted homicide, or aggravated assault, the Dutch public prosecution service said.

Promes, who transferred from Ajax to the Moscow team in February last year in a deal reportedly worth more than eight million euros (dollars), was not present at Friday’s preliminary hearing to set a date for his trial.

He was absent “because he works abroad” his lawyer Robert Malewicz told the ANP national news agency.

His lawyer however believed his client would be present in the courtroom when his trial starts next year.

Promes was arrested in mid-December 2020 and later released in connection with the incident, which happened at a family party in the scenic town of Abcoude.

He allegedly got into a scuffle after an argument with the relative and other family members immediately intervened, news reports said at the time.

The Amsterdam-born Promes joined Ajax in 2019 from Sevilla in a 15 million-euro transfer, before going back to Spartak, where he was named Russia’s footballer of the year in 2017.

Promes has scored seven goals in 50 appearances for the Dutch national team since his debut in 2014.

He was part of the Dutch team during the Euro in June 2021, but has not worn the national jersey since.