A prankster in a face mask seen falling to the ground in this video on a packed underground train where he then pretends to have a ‘coronavirus attack’ has been jailed for more than two years.

The video showing the joker falling to the ground in full view of stunned Russian metro passengers, who empty the carriage at the next stop, quickly went viral, but also resulted in Karomatullo Dzhaborov, 26, being arrested together with his pals.

And now the Presnensky District Court of Moscow has convicted him under Part 2 of Art. 213 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism committed on any other public transport by a group of persons by prior conspiracy) which has earned him two years and four months in a Russian prison colony.

Two of his accomplices, Stanislav Melikhov and Artur Isachenko, were also given two-year jail terms but they were suspended for three years.

The incident took place on the Moscow Metro in the western Russian capital Moscow between the Polezhaevskays and Ulitsa 1905 Goda stations in February last year. He has been in custody ever since.

Smartphone footage filmed by accomplices shows the masked Dzhaborov pretending to have the seizure after falling on the floor.

As some passengers try to help him, suddenly one of Dzhaborov’s friends screams “coronavirus”.

Within seconds of arriving at the next stop, the carriage quickly empties.

Dzhaborov’s lawyer Aleksey Popov claimed that his client’s prank was simply to raise awareness of COVID-19.

He said: “He has a bunch of videos on different topics that are important for our society. His goal was to turn people’s attention to the fact that people need to wear masks and protect themselves from a dangerous virus.”

Netizen ‘Vadim Bykov’ voiced the same viewpoint as most when he commented on the real reason the video was shot, saying: “He is an idiot, and that’s a fact.”

According to the news website Pravo’s report, Dzhaborov’s lawyer Roman Shakhmanov said that his client could be released in three weeks, taking into account the time spent in the pre-trial detention centre.

He stated that this will only happen if the prosecutor’s office and the metro administration do not appeal the verdict.