Russian actor and Kremlin critic Mikhail Yefremov, who is serving a prison sentence for killing a man while driving under the influence, may be granted an early release.
The chairman of the Public Monitoring Commission, Georgy Volkov, said on March 4 that the administration of the prison where Yefremov is serving his 7 1/2-year prison term had approved Yefremov's request for an early release.
A court must now decide if the 60-year-old actor deserves it, but courts typically follow the recommendations and approvals of the administrations at penitentiaries when looking into early-release requests by inmates.
Performances by Yefremov satirizing President Vladimir Putin and his policies had been popular among Russians before he was sent to prison in late 2020.
Moscow's Presnensky district court initially sentenced Yefremov in September 2020 to eight years in prison on charge of "causing a deadly traffic accident while driving under the influence."
The Moscow City Court one month later cut Yefremov's prison term by six months.
Yefremov initially pleaded not guilty when the high-profile trial started in early August 2020, insisting that he couldn't remember anything that took place the night of the accident.
His defense team brought in three witnesses who testified that Yefremov was not alone in his car when it hit the other vehicle. They said that Yefremov was not driving and had exited the car from the passenger side after the deadly collision.
However, Yefremov changed his plea to guilty and asked for forgiveness from the victim's relatives.
Investigators said Yefremov was inebriated when he drove his car at high speed into an oncoming lane in central Moscow on the evening of June 8, 2020, hitting a car.
Yefremov was not injured in the accident, but the 57-year-old driver of the other car, Sergei Zakharov, was rushed to hospital with multiple injuries and died hours later.
After Zakharov was pronounced dead, Yefremov was charged and placed under house arrest.
Authorities later said that medical tests confirmed that Yefremov was under the influence of alcohol and had traces of drugs, including cocaine, in his blood at the time of the accident.