Moscow police have launched a criminal investigation against Russian footballers Alexander Kokorin and Pavel Mamaev on conspiracy to commit hooliganism charges. The pair may face up to seven years behind bars, a spokesman for the Moscow Interior Ministry’s department, Yury Titov, told TASS on Thursday.

On Monday morning, FC Zenit striker Alexander Kokorin and FC Krasnodar midfielder Pavel 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") "Given the massive public outcry, the criminal cases were handed over to the Main Investigative Department of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Moscow branch for further investigation," the spokesman said. 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.

Police are searching for the accomplices of the footballers, a source in the law enforcement agencies said.

Kokorin’s stepfather Kirill Loginov has offered his apologies on his Instagram page to Denis Pak, footballers, team members and other people, who are not indifferent to the situation. According to Loginov, Kokorin wanted to apologize to everyone after his interrogation, but he was not permitted to do so.