MOSCOW, September 8 (RAPSI) – Russian actor Mikhail Efremov on Tuesday was sentenced to 8 years in penal colony for committing a deadly road traffic accident under the influence of alcohol, RAPSI reported from Moscow’s Presnensky District Court.

The court additionally banned Efremov from driving for three years but returned him his broken Jeep . The actor was handcuffed in the coutroom.

The court found that victim Sergey Zakharov was killed in the accident due to the defendant's driving behaviour.

When delivering sentence Judge Elena Abramova  said Efremov needed no compulsory psychiatric care. The defendant accepted the danger of his actions and did not suffer serious mental diseases, the judge stated.

However, the court considered his guilty plea during the pretrial investigation and his three minor children as mitigating circumstances.

On September 3, a prosecutor demanded an 11-year imprisonment for Efremov and driving ban for 3 years. That day, the court heard the parties’ arguments. Before the beginning Efremov made a plea of guilty. Earlier, he refused to admit his guilt and said he remembered nothing.

The famous actor was charged with committing a traffic offense in a drunken state that led to a victim’s death. 

On the evening of June 8, Efremov driving his car crossed into the oncoming lane in central Moscow and collided with a delivery service vehicle. He was arrested on the scene. Alcohol and drugs were reportedly found in his blood. Victim Sergey Zakharov was taken to hospital where he died early in the morning of June 9.

On June 9, Moscow’s Tagansky District Court ordered Efremov to be put under house arrest; the measure is still in force. In particular, he was banned from communicating with other case parties, using mobile phone and Internet.