A man who murdered a football fan, sparking a massive ethnic riot, has been jailed for 20 years by a Russian court.

Thousands of fans and ultranationalists rallied outside the Kremlin several days after Yegor Sviridov was gunned down in a drunken brawl last December by a man from the mainly Muslim Caucasus region.

The Moscow City Court said today that Aslan Cherkesov was guilty of premeditated murder, while five other people who took part in the brawl were sentenced to five years in jail each.

Police had initially arrested only Cherkesov and released the others.

Football fans claimed the men were let go because they had powerful backers. The Moscow police chief later said investigators made a mistake.

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