Thousands of soccer fans and ultranationalists rallied outside the Kremlin several days after Yegor Sviridov was gunned down in a drunken brawl on Dec. 6 by a native of the predominantly Muslim Caucasus region.

The Moscow City Court said Friday 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.