Russian football officials on Wednesday handed fines and bans to Premier League side Terek Grozny and an opposition player after he was brutally beaten by the club's security during a reserve game earlier this month.
FC Krasnodar forward Spartak Gogniev sustained a broken nose, a broken rib and concussion during the attack in the November 4 match. The 30-year-old had been set upon by stadium security after being sent off in the latter stages of the game.
In a vague website statement, the Russian Football Union said it had banned Terek reserve team coach Magodem Magomaev and his assistant Islam Soltaev for a year, and fined them $16,000 for their part in the incident, which was not described.
The club itself was handed the same fine and ordered to play its next two reserve home games behind closed doors, "for failing to maintain public order," the union said.
Gogniev, meanwhile, was banned for six matches and fined less, $1,600, for pushing the referee after being expelled. He was also accused by Terek officials of shouting obscenities at other players and the crowd.
The attack enraged the football community and led members of the national team squad to wear t-shirts in support of Gogniev carrying the slogan "We don't need this kind of football!" before last week's friendly against Greece.
Many onlookers expressed surprise at the reluctance of officials to slam the treatment of Gogniev, who was hospitalized after the attack.
Terek Grozny has deep connections with the Kremlin. The club's president is the Kremlin-installed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who has called for Vladimir Putin to be the country's president for life.
Rights activists have accused Kadyrov of ignoring the law and running the province as his own personal fiefdom.
