Germany: Russian hooligans convicted of assaulting Spaniards

BERLIN – A German court has convicted four Russian men and handed them suspended prison sentences of up to a year after they attacked Spanish tourists during a stop in Cologne on their way home from soccer’s European Championship.

Cologne district court spokesman Wolfgang Schorn said the four were convicted Friday of bodily harm and, in one case, also of resisting police officers. Three were given suspended 10-month sentences and the fourth a one-year suspended sentence.

The group accosted three Spaniards, two men and a woman, on June 16 as they were putting stickers with anti-fascist logos on doors. They then punched and kicked the two men.

A fifth Russian was also charged. Unlike the others, he has denied involvement and is being tried separately, with proceedings set to resume in August.