MOSCOW, April 6 (RAPSI) – A court will hear a case against three persons witnessing in defense of actor Mikhail Efremov, who had been earlier sentenced for a fatal crash incident, the Interior Ministry press service reports Tuesday.

Pretrial investigation into them is completed, according to the Interior Ministry’s spokesperson Irina Volk.

The defendants are charged with intentionally making false statements. Two of them insisted that they saw not Efremov, but someone else driving the car at the time of the accident. The third defendant alleged that he detected another person being in the car alongside the actor.

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.