MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. Upon receiving a request from the Russian Football Union (RFU), its ethics committee must duly react to the conduct of footballers Alexander Kokorin and Pavel Mamaev, a member of the RFU executive board and State Duma lawmaker Igor Lebedev said.
"I have no information on whether such a request was made, but even if it has not been submitted yet, this will be done very soon, because the Russian Football Union cannot remain uninvolved and must announce its decision, just like the ethics committee," he said.
"The ethics committee is free to bar Kokorin from professional sports for any period it sees fit," Lebedev said. "I think that the committee will react to this matter as it should."
According to the official, Kokorin, whose contract with Zenit expires after this season, is unlikely to sign a new one with any other club of the Russian Premier League.
"I don’t think that Zenit would decide to extend his contract, because a player with a criminal record would deal a massive blow to the club’s reputation and dignity," Lebedev added. "I think that the Russian football is now over for him. He may continue his career in Kazakhstan or China, but all doors will be closed for him in Russia and Europe."
On Monday morning, Kokorin and Mamaev assaulted a driver of a Mercedes parked near the Peking Hotel in downtown Moscow, beating the man up, in addition to breaking one of the vehicle’s windows and damaging one of the car’s doors. The automobile owner, who is Channel One TV presenter Olga Ushakova, reported the incident to the police.
Several hours later, the footballers beat up a customer at a downtown Moscow cafe after the individual, sitting at a table nearby, requested that they conduct themselves in a calmer manner in a public place. Both footballers assaulted the man hitting him over the head with a chair and then punching him in the face, inflicting multiple injuries. The victim, Denis Pak, turned out to be a department chief at the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry. In addition to other injuries, he suffered a concussion, which he later reported to the police.
After checks, criminal charges were pressed on both facts under Article 116 of the Russian Criminal Code ("battery"). Detectives later launched new proceedings against the footballers under Part 2 of Article 213 of the Russian Criminal Code for hooliganism in collusion with or committed by an organized group. The athletes are facing up to 7 years behind bars if found guilty.
Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court ruled on Thursday to place them in pretrial custody for two months, until December 8.