MOSCOW, March 29 - RAPSI. The Moscow City Court has commuted a sentence to the individuals convicted for organizing mass riots on Manezh Square in December 2010.

The court satisfied the appeal filed by the convicts' attorneys who found the sentence issued by the Moscow Tverskoy District Court to be groundless and extremely severe.

The court made the decision due to the liberalization of criminal legislation, as the charges have been re-qualified under a new edition of the law that came into effect on December 7, 2011.

According to the prosecution, as many as 5,000 football fans and nationalists caused public disorder on December 11, 2010 in Moscow after a rally to commemorate FC Spartak fan Yegor Sviridov, who was shot dead on December 6, 2010. Thirty-two people were injured in the riots.

Law enforcement authorities opened dozens of criminal proceedings against the rioters. A separate case was opened over assaults on police officers.