Скриншот эфира ОНТ
A court in the Minsk District has delivered a verdict against the man responsible for a traffic accident that killed a family from Russia. He was sentenced to the maximum prison term allowed under the article’s sanction — 10 years in a general-regime penal colony. He was also banned for eight years from engaging in any activity involving the operation of vehicles.
State prosecutor Tatsiana Hrakun of the Prosecutor General’s Office reported the details in a broadcast on the ONT television channel.
The fatal accident occurred in late June this year. A drunk driver operating a Mercedes-Benz at high speed clipped a passing taxi, sending it into a roadside barrier. The passengers — Russian citizens: an elderly woman, her daughter, and two granddaughters — died at the scene. The family had been returning home and was on the way to the airport.
According to the case materials, the court established that on the eve of the tragedy the defendant had been drinking with a friend. Unsatisfied with the amount consumed, he drove to a store to buy more alcohol. Along the way, he handed the wheel to his companion, who did not have a driver’s licence at all. Toward morning, the young men decided to drive to a female acquaintance in Moscow, and the driver removed the licence plates from the car. Witnesses said that during the trip he was constantly distracted and failed to notice how the vehicle, travelling at high speed, approached the taxi. The intoxicated driver did not have time to react.
“Taking into account the evidence presented by the state prosecution, the Minsk District Court has delivered a verdict in the case. Given the public danger posed by the crime committed and considering the personality of the defendant, he was sentenced, in accordance with Part 5 of Article 317 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, to the maximum prison term provided under this article — 10 years in a general-regime penal colony — and to a 48-year ban on engaging in activities related to the operation of vehicles,” said the state prosecutor.
The verdict has not yet entered into legal force and may be appealed.