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Russian Football Fans Return Home After Serving Time for Euro 2016 Riots

Sergei Gorbachev (L) and Alexei Yerunov arrive at Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow, Russia. Vladimir Gerdo / TASS

Two Russian football fans convicted of rioting during the Euro 2016 Football Championship are returning home after serving their sentences in France, the Dozhd TV channel has reported.

Sergei Gorbachev finished his sentence in December 2016, but remained in jail in order to wait for the release of his friend Alexei Yerunov, freed in January 2017.

In June of 2016, the two men and another Russian Nikolai Morozov were convicted in France for participating in the riots in Marseille before a football match between Russia and England. 

The men received sentences ranging from one to two years in prison, but in October a court reduced Yerunov and Gorbachev's term to six months and three months respectively.

Fights broke during the match after approximately 30 Russian football fans broke through a cordon of ushers to stadium seating designated for English fans. Marseille city also experienced clashes between fans, local residents and the police.

Twenty Russians were deported from France for their participation in the riots.  

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