MOSCOW, September 18 (RAPSI) – Vladimir Vasilyev, a new defense lawyer for Mikhail Efremov filed an appeal against sentence given to the actor seeking to overturn it or change for a 4-year suspended term, RAPSI was told in the Moscow Presnensky District Court’s press service on Friday.

After sentencing he waived the services of attorney Elman Pashayev because he was dissatisfied with his sentence. Lawyer Roman Filippov entered the case as the actor’s defense lawyer, RAPSI was told Tuesday in the Russian Lawyers Company earlier.

Efremov is now in a Moscow detention center.

On September 8, the actor received 8 years in penal colony for and was banned Efremov from driving for three years. The court returned him his broken Jeep. 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.

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.