Deadly hitting

A major accident occurred in Nizhny Novgorod on December 7 at about 17:30. The driver of the Toyota Highlander SUV, driving to Gorky Street from the adjacent territory, crossed a continuous dividing strip and on the oncoming lane collided with Audi and a parked Mitsubishi Outlander, which was thrown onto the sidewalk. At this time, a group of ninth-graders walked along the sidewalk: they had organized a trip to the theater.

As a result of the collision, nine teenagers and two adults were injured. The mother of one of the students accompanying the children died in the hospital.

The 43-year-old Viktor Pilganov, who was driving a premium car with the number A888AA, refused a medical examination. The owner of the car was the driver’s father, retired Major General of Justice Alexander Pilganov, who until December 2014 headed the Main Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. After the resignation, he worked in one of the Nizhny Novgorod structures of Gazprom.

According to the Avtokod portal, from the beginning of 2016, 128 fines for a total of 89,800 rubles were written on the SUV of the former siloviki. All were paid. Most violations are related to speeding.

A criminal case has been instituted on the fact of an accident under Part 4 of Art. 264 of the Criminal Code (violation of traffic rules, resulting in the death of a person through negligence, by a person who is intoxicated).

After a recent tightening of legislation, Pilganov faces five to 12 years in prison.

The investigation itself, in connection with a great response from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was transferred to the Investigative Committee, and the head of the region, Gleb Nikitin, ordered to provide material assistance to the victims and the family of the deceased.

The day after the accident, the suspect was arrested for two months. In court, Viktor Pilganov said that on that evening his father asked him to sit behind the wheel, who was in the passenger seat at the time of the accident.

Recidivist with experience

According to Pilganov Jr. himself in court, the traffic police officers took his rights from him in November 2015, when he drove the child to school without a child seat.

By that time, the driver was already a defendant in a criminal case.

According to a court verdict of February 25, 2016, cited by a number of Nizhny Novgorod media, on August 5 of that year, Viktor Pilganov and a friend drank a bottle of vodka and a half liter of beer, after which they decided to take a ride. Due to the high speed, traffic police officers paid attention to the car. The driver was trying to hide, but in the end lost control and got into an accident.

His car rolled over and the passenger fell on the driver. Men could not get out of the cabin on their own, and in anticipation of help, Pilganov simply fell asleep.

Since at the time of the August incident Pilganov was already deprived of his rights for refusing to have a medical examination, a criminal case was opened against him under Art. 264.1 of the Criminal Code. It provides liability for drunk driving or refusal of a medical examination, committed repeatedly, that is, until the expiration of one year from the date of return of the driver’s license for a previous violation.

Pilganov was found guilty and sentenced to deprivation of a driver’s license for two years and a fine of 200 thousand rubles.

Despite the fact that the two-year period has long expired, he did not pay the impressive fine imposed by the court, so the rights were not returned to him. Moreover, he is still considered a “bereaved person”.

As the man admitted on December 8 in court, he thought that his father had paid a fine for him, who had sold his apartment for these purposes. However, this did not happen.

  • Alexander Pilganov
  • © Press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Nizhny Novgorod Region

Thus, Pilganov is now again facing a criminal case under the same art. 264.1 of the Criminal Code. Local media are already reporting the initiation of a second case, citing sources.

At the same time, the official representative of the department, Yulia Sklyarova, told RT that at the moment the second criminal case against Pilganov has not been opened.

“Investigators have not yet given a legal assessment to this circumstance: now, let’s say, there are more urgent investigative actions related to the investigation of a criminal case into the accident itself. Everything is not easy there, you need to conduct a series of examinations. As a rule, already upon presentation of the final charge, according to the results of the work of investigators, they give an assessment of all the committed acts. There is nowhere to rush here, ”Sklyarova noted, confirming that at the time of the accident Pilganov had no rights.

Soft protocol

Against the backdrop of a huge resonance after the accident and the arrest of the alleged culprit, the owner of the SUV was in the shadows.

Last week, it turned out that the retired major general was brought to administrative responsibility, but he was punished much more leniently than could be expected.

“The owner of the car, driving the alleged culprit of the accident, in which a woman died and nine schoolchildren were injured, was brought to administrative responsibility under part 3 of article 12.3 Administrative Code of the Russian Federation ("Transfer of vehicle control to a person who does not have documents for the right to drive him"), ”the department’s press service told RT. The source of Interfax added that Pilganov Sr. had already paid the fine due to him in the amount of 3,000 rubles.

In turn, an RT source in the local police added that, despite the driver’s refusal to have a medical certificate and his recognition as drunk in the administrative and criminal codes, it implies the same consequences for him, in the case of transferring control of the car owner to such a driver, the situation is different - the owner is responsible Car carries only if the fact of intoxication is established.

“If Pilganov Jr. agreed to blow into the tube and intoxication was confirmed, then his father would be punished by deprivation of rights and a large fine. And because of the peculiar legal loophole in the law, it cannot be attracted. It is possible that the Pilganovs could know about this feature of the law, ”the source added.

At the same time, the police did not begin to attract the owner of the car, and according to what seemed to be quite obvious for this situation, Part 3 of Art. 12.7 - “Transfer of vehicle control to a person who obviously has no right to drive a vehicle (with the exception of a training drive) or is deprived of such a right." The punishment in this case for Pilganov Sr. would have amounted to 30 thousand rubles.

Another informed source in the region’s law enforcement agencies explained to RT the logic of the traffic police who made the decision to punish the retired general.

They considered that under the law a person is considered knowingly not having the right to drive a vehicle only during the period of deprivation.

“That is, in the case of Pilganov, whom the court stripped of his rights for two years in February 2016, it is believed that he obviously did not have the right to drive only for two years after deprivation. And although after the end of this period, at the beginning of 2018, he did not apply to the traffic police for restoration of rights, they believe that since then he has been considered a driver who simply does not have a driver’s license, that is, no longer knowingly. That is why they made up such a soft protocol on Pilganov Sr., ”the source said.

  • © Kirill Martynov / pravda-nn.ru

Need to change the law

State Duma deputy from "United Russia" Vyacheslav Lysakov, known for a number of "automotive" amendments and bills, in an interview with RT was surprised at such a soft (taking into account the circumstances of the accident) punishment for Pilganov Sr.

“This case is quite incidental. If his son refused to purge after the accident, then I do not understand why the owner of the car should not bear any responsibility only on the basis that the fact of intoxication has not been documented.

If the law has such a loophole. If someone really deliberately takes advantage of this and in such situations helps the car owner to evade responsibility, it is necessary to amend the Administrative Code to equally punish the owners for transferring control to drunk drivers and those who refuse to be examined. You just need to supplement the current edition of Part 2 of Art. 12.8 with the words "or to those who refused a medical examination."

The parliamentarian is ready to appeal to the Prosecutor General and the leadership of the traffic police to verify the actions of the Nizhny Novgorod police.

“We must once again look carefully. But if there really is only one protocol for 3,000 rubles, then I’m ready to send a deputy’s request for incorrect, if not biased, enforcement in the case of Pilganov Sr. Of course, when it comes to the major general who worked in the leadership of the local headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the circumstances in which the accident occurred, questions arise for those who decided to bring him to justice under this rather mild article, ”Lysakov said.

“I admit, I never paid attention to this nuance in law. Everyone has long been accustomed to the fact that the responsibility for drunk driving and the refusal of medical examination both in the administrative code and in the criminal one is the same, and rightly so. And the fact that the driver, who, from the point of view of the law, doesn’t care at all (he’ll be punished for sure), can simply refuse to purge, and in this case the owner of the car does not bear responsibility - this is a real life hack, - said Petr Shkumatov, an auto expert, RT. “And I think a lot of people (especially close to the law enforcement system, as in this case), who know about this little-known nuance, were able to use it.”