Moscow court rules to keep feuding footballers Mamaev, Kokorin in custody until April 8

MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. The Tverskoy Court of Moscow ruled on Wednesday to extend until April 8 the custody for Russian footballers Pavel Mamaev and Alexander Kokorin, who face hooliganism charges after several brawls in central Moscow last fall.

“A motion from the prosecution to prolong the custody term for Mamaev and Kokorin until April 8 is granted,” Judge Olga Zatomskaya announced.

Kokorin and Mamaev were initially charged with hooliganism and battery for their involvement in several brawls in the Russian capital last October. Kokorin’s lawyer announced in December that following a medical examination of their victims the count of ‘battery’ has been altered to ‘premeditated infliction of light bodily injuries.’

The count of hooliganism, which stipulates a prison term of up to seven years, remained unchanged. However, the count of premeditated infliction of light bodily injuries stipulates a prison term of up to two years, just like the count of battery.

On October 8, FC Krasnodar midfielder Pavel Mamaev and FC Zenit striker Alexander Kokorin were reported to be the culprits behind two assaults in downtown Moscow. The first incident took place at around 8:30 a.m. Moscow time, when they attacked a driver of a Mercedes parked near the Peking Hotel in Moscow.

They beat the man up, in addition to breaking one of the vehicle’s windows and damaging one of the car’s doors. The damaged vehicle belonged to Channel One TV presenter Olga Ushakova.

Following that assault, the gang, made up of Kokorin’s brother Kirill and their friend Alexander Protasovitsky stopped in at a cafe on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street in downtown Moscow, where they proceeded to beat up an individual, who turned out to be the director of a department in the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Denis Pak.

Another individual on hand at the establishment who witnessed the incident, Director of the NAMI State Research Center Sergei Gaisin, tried to calm the young people down, but was struck in the face as well by one of the perpetrators.

The Moscow police detained the footballers on charges of battery and hooliganism. Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court ruled later in October to place them in pretrial custody for two months, until December 8.

The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow ruled in early December to prolong the custody term for Mamaev and Kokorin until February 8, 2019.