Two weeks after convicting the murderer of Spartak fan Egor Sviridov, the Moscow City Court has passed sentence on another killer of a football fan.
A Chechen native, Akhmedpasha Aidayev, was sentenced to 17 years behind bars for killing 23-year-old Yury Volkov in a street brawl back in July 2010.
A second defendant, Bekkhan Ibragimov, who was found guilty of hooliganism and assault, received a six-year prison term.
The sentences are based on a Moscow City Court jury verdict, which had earlier found Aidayev and Ibragimov guilty of the premeditated murder, which took place on July 10, 2010.
Volkov was stabbed with a knife in central Moscow in July 2010, when the defendants picked a fight with a group of football fans. Two persons were hospitalized after the brawl, while Volkov died in an ambulance on the way to hospital.
The reading of the verdict almost resulted in violence. On hearing the judge’s words, relatives of the defendants began to chant “Allahu Akbar,” to the outrage of the injured parties’ friends. Bailiffs had to step in to prevent another brawl.
The defendants’ lawyers said they would appeal the verdict at the Supreme Court, insisting that numerous procedural violations had taken place during the trial. For example, lawyers say the judge refused to look at a video showing the brawl or to listen to witnesses to the event.
Marina Volkova, the mother of the deceased, called the verdict fair and said she was not afraid that the defendants’ relatives might try to take revenge on her.
“It does not matter what punishment they receive; the main thing is that they’ve been punished,” she said. “They have been threatening me during the trial, but I don’t fear any revenge. The worst thing in my life has already happened; I have nothing to fear now.”
The verdict comes days after a Moscow court found another North Caucasus native guilty of murdering football fan Egor Sviridov in a street brawl in December 2010. On that occasion the killer was jailed for 20 years.