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Court denies special procedure to fatal road accident case defendant

On September 22, 2012, car smashed into a group of people at a bus stop, killing five adolescents and their teacher with her husband

MOSCOW, April 16 (Itar-Tass) – Moscow's Nikulino court on Tuesday denied special trial procedure in the resounding criminal case over the death of seven people in a road accident in Minsk Street. The hearings on the merit are due to begin on April 30, lawyer of the injured parties Yanis Yuksha told Itar-Tass.

Defendant Alexander Maximov had pleaded guilty and asked for special procedure and clemency.

The court will review the case against Maximov in general procedure at an open session on April 30, Yuksha said.

"The injured parties are categorically opposed to special procedure trial, as in this case, the term of maximum sentence for Maximov will be reduced from nine years to six," a lawyer said earlier.

On September 22, 2012, Maximov's car smashed into a group of people at a bus stop, killing five adolescents, winners of the Moscow creativity festival of handicapped children and their teacher with her husband.

Specialists said Maximov's blood samples had tested 2.78 promille and showed traces of narcotics. Police suspended his license for drunk driving in 2010.

According to experts, Maximov's car was in good order as of the moment of the accident. "The results of a test showed that the steering and braking gear was in order. No evidence of failure was detected," the police press service reported earlier.

An expert examination said Maximov had driven at more than 79 kilometers per hour. However, police were unable to precisely ascertain the speed of the car.

At the stage of preliminary investigation, the injured parties lodged a 80-million-rouble damages suit.

"We ask for reimbursement of damage in connection with the children's death: the expenses the state carried in connection with the children’s staying at orphanage # 7 totaling 23,863.649 roubles, and moral damages in connection with their death: Vladimir Maltsev, Dmitry Uzbekov, Anastasia Alexandrova, Jesica Regush, Viktoria Ivanova, in the amount of 10 million roubles per child," lawyer Igor Trunov said.

The injured parties thus claim 73,863.649 roubles in favor of the orphanage. They also demanded damages in connection with the death of orphanage teacher Olga Shirshova in favor of her mother Lyudmila Cherepanova /7 million roubles/ and her brother Roman Yeletsky /3 million roubles/.

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