The best way out of the situation with Russian fans, Mikhail Ivkin and Pavel Kosov, would be if the defendants were allowed to serve their sentences in Russia, which could remove the politicization trail from this story, said Elena Panina, a member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs.
Earlier, the French court in Aix-en-Provence sentenced Russian fans Mikhail Ivkin and Pavel Kosov to 3 and 10 years in prison, respectively, in the case of grievous mutilation of an English fan during the 2016 European Football Championship. The court sentenced Ivkin to 3 years in prison. This decision allows Ivkin, who has already spent 2 years and 9 months in prison, to be released in the coming days and return to Russia.
The second Russian, Pavel Kosov, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. According to the court’s decision, Kosov will serve his sentence in France. At the same time, according to Kosov’s lawyer, the Russian side may send a request to France so that he would serve his sentence in Russia.
“Without going into the details of the court decision, it is worth noting that media coverage of the case was politicized, as is often the case in the West with respect to any conflicts involving Russian citizens – commercial, family, domestic,” Panina told RIA Novosti.
She noted that, in this regard, it cannot be ruled out that the spread of conspiracy theories, according to which the clashes between fans, which are common in such circumstances, were presented as “hybrid war”, influenced the shockingly harsh nature of the sentence – especially when compared with the reaction of law enforcement and judicial systems The West to the actions of “protesters” during the summer riots that shook the United States and many Western European countries. All these actions in the relations of Russian citizens cause an unpleasant aftertaste, the deputy added.
“Perhaps the best way out of the situation would be if the defendants were allowed to serve their sentences in Russia. This, at least, could remove from this story the train of politicization, which, as everyone already understands now, is absolutely artificial,” she stressed Panin.