4 December, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. A resident of Vitebsk has been sentenced to a lengthy prison term for a road traffic accident resulting in two fatalities, as reported to BELTA by Aleksei Tolkachev, Senior Prosecutor of the Department for Supervision of Legality of Court Rulings in Criminal Cases of the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office. In May of this year, at night, a 29-year-old man, while intoxicated, was giving a lift to an acquaintance and a young woman. Driving at high speed (120 km/h) along Moskovsky Prospekt, he lost control while crossing tram tracks and the vehicle overturned. As a result of the accident, both passengers died, while the driver sustained no serious injuries. For the death of two people and for driving a vehicle while intoxicated, the perpetrator of the road traffic accident has been sentenced to six years of imprisonment in a penal colony settlement and has been deprived of his driving licence for five years. Aleksei Tolkachev emphasised that the main figure in the case is not the owner of the Mercedes involved in the accident. The owner turned out to be a businessman from Vitebsk District who had entrusted the car to this person through an acquaintance for sale. "He, as the owner of a source of increased danger – the car – has also been held responsible for his negligent attitude towards his property. By the decision of the Pervomaisky District Court of Vitebsk, the owner of the car was ordered to pay Br100 million to the next of kin of each of the deceased," added the Senior Prosecutor.-0-

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