MOSCOW, April 19 (RAPSI) – Tevan Badasyan, a defense witness in the deadly road traffic accident case against actor Mikhail Efremov, on Monday pled not guilty to intended making of false statements concerning the car crash, RAPSI reports from Moscow’s Presnensky District Court.

According to the prosecution, Badasyan alleged that he detected another person being in the car alongside the actor. Prosecutors claim that the witness intentionally wanted to mislead the court.

Pretrial investigation into the false testimony case was completed in early April. There are three defendants in it, including Badasyan. Two other defendants insisted that they saw not Efremov, but someone else driving the car at the time of the accident. 

In October 2020, the Moscow City Court reduced jail sentence of Efremov by 6 months, from 8 to 7.5 years. The actor was found guilty of driving under influence (DUI) resulting in vehicular homicide.

As established by the court, 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.

Efremov pleaded guilty in the case.