All news

Court sentences Hiermonk Ilia responsible for traffic accident to three years jail

The accident occurred in Kutuzovsky Prospect in the west of Moscow overnight to August 16, 2012

MOSCOW, June 25 (Itar-Tass) -- The Moscow Dorogomilovsky district court has sentenced Hiermonk Aliya (secular name Pavel Semin) to three years in an ordinary prison as responsible for a traffic accident in which two people were killed and one was injured.

The accident occurred in Kutuzovsky Prospect in the west of Moscow overnight to August 16, 2012.

The Mercedes Gelandewagen with the monk behind the wheel rammed a barrier placed on the motorway which was being repaired. Two senior road maintenace operators were killed, and one man was injured in the accident.

The judge, Anton Tolstoi, has cut almost fifteenfold (from three million to 500,000 roubles) the sum claimed in damages by the relatives of the victims killed in the accident. The daughter and the parents of one of the victims will be paid only 100,000 roubles each. The overall compensation for moral damages caused to all those who suffered in the accident made up around 700,000 roubles, including the funeral expenditures and the lawyers' fees. The court has stripped monk Iliya of a driver's license for three years after he is released from prison.

The court supported an initial version of the investigation who said that the car run by Iliya had considerably exceeded the permissible speed limit when it ran into a Skoda taxi, then broke into a road repairs zone and ran over people who were there.

The court verdict drew strong protests from the widows of both victims who said that a three-year prison term at an ordinary prison with a possible release on parole did not conform to the seriousness of the crime. Lawyer for the injured party Lyudmila Aivar said they would appeal the verdict.