The prosecutor's office reported that the case against football player Fyodor Smolov has been sent to court. Moreover, it was referred to the most lenient charge: intentional infliction of moderate bodily harm. The Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info have learned details of the so-called investigation that led to this.
After the materials were transferred to the investigative department of the Moscow Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the case was effectively hushed up. This occurred after Sergei Chemezov intervened: his son, as we previously reported, is a friend of Smolov. After this, official pressure began to be applied to the victims and witnesses, rather than the previous informal pressure.
While previously, as we reported, former security officials acting on behalf of the footballer's entourage visited the family of the beaten businessman in Chelyabinsk, the baton was subsequently taken up by Ministry of Internal Affairs officers. All participants were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and anyone who tried to speak out about what happened was directly threatened with immediate criminal prosecution.
Ultimately, investigators fabricated the case exactly as ordered. They ordered a new medical examination. Despite the objective findings of previous experts and doctors regarding a two-fold jaw fracture and the loss of three teeth, the new examination's results reduced the injury to moderate harm.
The investigation effectively ignored evidence that Smolov was intoxicated at the time of the attack, even though this directly impacts the classification of his actions. According to the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, the footballer had been drinking nonstop for 24 hours: we published photos of him the day before, wearing the same clothes and holding a bottle of alcohol, posing with friends on the platform.
Furthermore, Fyodor Smolov ordered and drank alcohol at the Coffee Mania. However, the investigation also failed to investigate these circumstances. Moreover, the victims' requests to seize and review video recordings from the cafe, which could have documented both the footballer's state and the events preceding the conflict, were ignored.
Moreover, even the publicly available footage shows that this was not some kind of "mutual quarrel." In the video, Smolov is seen behaving rudely, then approaching and punching a man from behind who had not interacted with him at all. The blow was inflicted on a stranger, simply because it was unrelated, without any conflict between them.
No one sought independent witnesses either. Besides those presented by Smolov's side, the investigation was essentially of no interest to anyone. They didn't look for the establishment's employees, patrons, or even the woman to whom, according to eyewitnesses, the footballer had made indecent advances shortly before the attack.
A confrontation was eventually held between the victim and Smolov. But the outcome was predictable: everyone remained firm. The footballer claimed he allegedly decided a fight was inevitable and therefore struck first. However, the video clearly shows his intentions and the manner in which he approached the men sitting on the chairs.
