Footballers up for assault
Moscow – Disgraced Russian football players Pavel Mamaev and Alexander Kokorin could face up to five years in prison for assaulting a government official at a Moscow cafe, in a case that sparked outrage in Russia yesterday.
The assault by the players – both former Russian internationals who have courted controversy in the past – has prompted the interior ministry to open a criminal probe while the Kremlin described the incident as “unpleasant”.
On Monday, Krasnodar midfielder Mamaev and Zenit Saint Petersburg forward Kokorin attacked two Russian trade ministry officials in an upscale Moscow cafe.
Video footage showed one of the officials, Denis Pak, being hit with a chair while eating a meal. The players also reportedly hurled ethnic slurs at Pak, who is an ethnic Korean.
Before the cafe assault, the footballers attacked the driver of a television host and damaged her Mercedes in a separate incident on Monday. The driver was hospitalised with injuries and a criminal probe was opened.
Public outrage quickly snowballed into a public shaming campaign on national television, which even published a list of Russian footballers who were convicted in the past.
The Russian Premier League condemned Mamaev and Kokorin, saying they should face “severe” punishment.
“The Russian Premier League expresses its outrage and strongly condemns their [players’] rowdy behaviour,” it said in a statement.
“This act not only casts a shadow over the glorious names of FC Zenit and FC Krasnodar but all of Russian football.
“We believe that those responsible should be punished in the most severe way. There is no place for hooligans in football!”
Kremlin-controlled state television featured a host of industry representatives and commentators angrily slamming the attack.
“I think law enforcement agencies will qualify this as hooliganism and punishment for this is quite severe – up to five years in prison,” Igor Lebedev, a member of the Russian Football Union’s executive committee, said in televised remarks. –