Six Russian soccer fans detained in Germany for allegedly beating up three Spanish tourists in the city of Cologne face up to 10 years in prison, the Russian Embassy in Berlin says.
Embassy spokesman Sergei Belyaev said on June 17 the fans had been charged with inflicting bodily harm, failure to obey police officers, and creating a public disturbance.
German police said two of the Spaniards were seriously injured in the attack outside Cologne’s landmark cathedral on June 16.
The Russians were returning to Moscow from the Euro 2016 tournament in France.
A police source told TASS that seven Russian fans "attacked three Spaniards outside the Cologne cathedral.... The police detained six of them; one managed to escape. All of them had tickets for the Russia-England match" where fighting between fan clubs earlier in the week resulted in the arrest and expulsion of some Russians.
"We do not know if they were deported from France," the Cologne police source said, adding that all the suspects had air tickets to Moscow and held Russian passports.
French authorities said they were expelling 20 Russians responsible for seriously wounding English fans and other infractions in Marseilles.
Russian Consul-General Sergei Molchanov told TASS that the Russian fans were determined to challenge their deportation.
