Russian prosecutors urge judges to sentence Russian footballers Pavel Mamaev, Alexander Kokorin to 18 months in jail

Moscow: Prosecutors on Monday urged a judge to sentence Russian footballers Pavel Mamaev and Alexander Kokorin to 18 months in jail as they stand trial for drunken assaults, Interfax news agency reported. [caption id=“attachment_5358081” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Pavel Mamaev and Alexander Kokorin. Reuters[/caption] Mamaev, a midfielder for Krasnodar, and Zenit Saint Petersburg forward Kokorin are on trial in Moscow after they attacked two government officials in an upmarket Moscow cafe on a drunken night out in October 2018. They beat up a chauffeur in a car park on the same evening. Prosecutor Svetlana Tarasova called for Kokorin to serve one year and six months in a penal colony and for Mamaev to serve one year and five months. Judges usually do not impose sentences higher than demanded by prosecutors. Both players are Russian internationals though Kokorin last played for the national side in late 2017, while Mamaev was last selected in 2016. The pair committed a series of assaults on Monday, 8 October, at the end of a night out in Moscow. They attacked the driver of a television host and damaged her Mercedes. The driver was hospitalised with injuries and a criminal probe was opened. Then they were caught on video attacking two Russian trade ministry officials in an upscale Moscow cafe. One of the officials, Denis Pak, an ethnic Korean, was hit with a chair while eating. The attacks caused outrage in Russia, especially as Mamaev and Kokorin have been in trouble before over a night out. The Russian Football Union suspended the pair in July 2016 after a video emerged from a Monte Carlo nightclub in which Mamaev and Kokorin allegedly spent $296,000 (258,000 euros) on a champagne-fuelled party following Euro 2016, where Russia flopped.