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Russian footballers jailed for hooliganism wire compensation to driver they assaulted

According to a source close to the investigation, Pavel Mamaev and Alexander Kokorin have apologized to the complainants and acknowledged their guilt in full

MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. FC Krasnodar midfielder Pavel Mamaev and FC Zenit striker Alexander Kokorin, accused of hooliganism and battery in downtown Moscow, have wired money to the account of the driver they had battered, as compensation for moral and material damage, a source close to the investigation told TASS on Wednesday.

"As for financial damage, the issue with the driver (of a Russian TV presenter) has been settled - the money has been transferred to a special account opened for the plaintiff. This can be presented in the court as mitigating circumstances," the source said.

He said internationals Kokorin and Mamaev had apologized to the complainants and acknowledged their guilt in full.

The counsels for the defense and the plaintiffs have neither confirmed nor denied the information about the money wired to the driver, citing the confidentiality of the investigation. TASS has no official commentaries from the police so far as well.

On October 8, Mamaev, Kokorin, along with Kokorin’s brother Kirill, and Alexander Protasovitsky, were the perpetrators of a couple of assaults in downtown Moscow. The first incident took place at around 8:30 a.m. Moscow time, when several men attacked a driver of a Mercedes near the Peking Hotel in Moscow.

They approached the car, and the proceeded to beat the man up. During the assault, they breaking one of the vehicle’s windows and damaging one of the car’s doors, which belongs to Russian TV presenter Olga Ushakova. After that, the gang stopped in at a cafe on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, where they proceeded to beat up a director of one of the Russian trade ministry’s departments, Denis Pak.

Sergey Gaisin, general director of the Russian State Research Centre NAMI, tried to calm the rowdy perpetrators down but was hit in his face. The Moscow police have launched three criminal investigations into the matter, two of which are based on Article 116 of the Russian Criminal Code (Battery) while the other was launched directly against Kokorin and Mamaev based on the second part of Article 213 of the Russian Criminal Code (Conspiracy to commit hooliganism). Moscow’s Tverskoy court has ruled to keep the perpetrators in custody until December 8. Their lawyers insist that their clients be released from the detention center.