The trial of actor Mikhail Efremov in the case of a fatal traffic accident in the center of Moscow has become one of the most notorious trials of the outgoing year.

On the evening of June 8, Efremov in the Smolenskaya Square area on the Garden Ring in his Jeep Grand Cherokee drove into the oncoming lane and crashed into a Lada van driven by a 57-year-old Ryazan resident Sergey Zakharov.

A man with multiple injuries was taken to the Sklifosovsky Research Institute, where he died a few hours later.

Efremov, who was in a state of alcoholic and drug intoxication, was not injured.

Four days after the accident, the actor recorded a video message in which he asked for forgiveness from the Zakharov family.

However, later he unexpectedly stated that he did not remember whether he was driving on the day of the accident, and wrote down an apology with a confession of guilt, because he was nervous with a hangover.

On the version that at the time of the accident another person was driving, Efremov and his lawyer Elman Pashayev insisted almost until the very end of the trial.

However, shortly before the verdict was announced, the actor again pleaded guilty to the accident and said that he "sincerely repents if he did it."

On September 8, the Presnensky Court of Moscow sentenced the actor to eight years in prison.

Also, 800 thousand rubles were collected from the artist as compensation to the eldest son of the deceased.

On October 22, the Moscow City Court mitigated the sentence to Efremov, reducing the sentence from eight to 7.5 years in a general regime colony.

Now the actor is serving his sentence in IK-4 of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Belgorod Region, located in the city of Alekseevka.

In early December, the media published his letter to the family of the deceased Sergei Zakharov, which he wrote in the colony.

The wife of the deceased Margarita and his son Valery told RT about the course of the trial, life under the gun of the media and their attitude to Efremov's letters from the colony.

"I tried to hold on"

- Margarita, during the trial, the defense of the actor named rather large amounts that you allegedly demanded from Efremov.

So did you meet with  

Pashayev or with Efremov's friends?

- No one has ever contacted us on the part of Mikhail Efremov: neither personally, nor through our lawyer Alexander Dobrovinsky, nor through anyone else.

And nobody offered us money.

Therefore, we were very surprised by the statements of the lawyer Pashayev that we demand either 200 million rubles, then 150 million, then 40 million ... Where these amounts came from, and from whom exactly we demanded them - has always been a mystery.

  • Sergey Zakharov with his family

  • RT

- Have you read the letter that Efremov sent you from prison?

- Yes, I read it and was very surprised, because, I repeat, no one had contacted us before.

And during the trial, only nasty things and insults sounded to us.

I still remember how upsetting it was to tears when Pashayev said: "Don't cry, answering the question about the death of your husband - didn't you prepare?"

On the other hand, I tried to restrain myself and not show my emotions in court - this is my personal pain.

- Why do you think

Efremov began to write letters of apology?

- I dont know.

For our family, this is a mystery.

Why first pour a tub of dirt on us?

How could you not understand our grief?

I'm not even talking about the fact that there was not even a drop of sympathy.

He looked down on us.

Probably, he thought that since we are not from the capital, we are not worthy of attention, respect ... And this behavior was so humiliating.

That is why I did not come to the hearings - I could not see their smug faces, and I had no strength to listen to some things.

I can't imagine how Alexander Andreyevich had the patience to listen to all this and not react to all the nasty things that sounded in court, including those addressed to him.

- What impression did you get of the Efremov-Pashayev pair?

Did Pashayev have a great influence on Efremov's position?

- It's hard for me to say.

Mikhail Efremov also said a lot of nasty things, so they were practically on an equal footing.

  • Sergey Zakharov with his family

  • RT

- How do you feel about the fact that Mikhail first recorded a video with recognition and regret about what happened, and then suddenly retracted his words?

- This video seemed to us hypocritical.

It was not clear why he turned to everyone, and not to us personally?

Why this window dressing?

It was important for him that people forgive him, probably so that they would continue to go to his performances.

Maybe he was thinking about it when he was recording the video.

And after he changed his position, it became clear that the video was recorded in order to whitewash himself, so that they began to feel sorry for him and ask for him in court, and when he realized that they did not believe him, he decided to renounce his own words.

- How did you transfer the publicity of the process?

What kind of reviews have you read about yourself in social networks and comments in the media?

- At some point I stopped reading everything they wrote.

It's a shame that all this gossip was read in the village where Sergei grew up, where he studied at school - and, of course, where everyone knows us.

Our neighbors and acquaintances constantly asked: "Is it true that we are asking millions, is it true, is it true."

Everyone who knows us did not understand how you can lie so blatantly.

- When did Sergey start working in Moscow and why did you have to choose this type of earnings?

How did he feel about being away from home?

- Of course, Sergei went to work in Moscow not because of a good life.

If it was possible to receive that kind of money here, he would not run back and forth, because it’s hard.

It was not easy for everyone, but what can you do - life is like that.

We all understood that it was better for our family, supported him so that it would be easier for him morally.

They were very happy when he came and brought some gifts.

Such separations allowed us to better understand how close we are to each other.

- How did you celebrate the New Year with Sergei?

What were your traditions?

- New Year has always been celebrated with the whole family - this was our tradition.

Gather at a large table, give gifts at midnight.

You know, when you live apart like this, you start to appreciate the time spent together.

Therefore, they tried to celebrate the holidays on a grand scale, with fun, joy.

- How does your family feel about the possibility of Efremov being released on parole?

Should he serve a full sentence?

- We don't think about it.

It was important for us that the person did not run away from punishment.

It didn't matter to us that he was in prison for five, six or eight years.

It was important for him to realize his guilt, to understand the gravity of what he had done.

I knew that it was impossible to drive after a drunkenness, to make an accident and, as if nothing had happened the next day, to live on.

It is not right.

And this should not be, even if you are a famous actor Efremov.

- Do you think the sentence is fair?

- We hoped to see understanding, repentance, awareness of the entire tragedy of the situation in his eyes, but all this was not.

And there was only complacency and some kind of anger towards us.

And after that there were no more regrets or thoughts: fair or not.

Since the judge passed him just such a sentence, and not another, it means that she considered it fair.

- How did this whole situation affect the relationship in your family?

- Of course, she rallied us even more.

Always grief or joy brings people together - the same is with us.

"Father didn't deserve it"

- Valery, what can you say about some celebrities who supported him in the Efremov case?

- Honestly, I do not know who the celebrities were in the court.

I only know that there were some pseudo-witnesses who tried to shield Efremov so that he could escape punishment.

And now, as far as I know, they too can sit down for their lies.

  • Sergey and Valery Zakharov

  • © RT

- Do you think the verdict is fair?

- I consider it unfair that my father died.

He did not deserve such a fate.

Everything that happened on June 8 is unfair.

- Has your attitude towards Efremov changed?

-

I had nothing to do with him, I did not particularly watch films with his participation.

Now I certainly won't look.

"It was not easy"

- Alexander Andreevich, what was the main difficulty of this case?

- I cannot say that it was a very difficult matter, it was difficult and eventful.

Just remember how many times Yefremov's line of defense changed during this time: a change in political position, statements about the adoption of the children of the deceased Sergei Zakharov, an admission of guilt by Mikhail Efremov, a rejection of his own admission of guilt, refusal of lawyers, the return of lawyers, a stroke, and so on.

And although I counted all these moves once or twice, it was, of course, amusing to watch the attempts to drag out the process.

By the way, my colleagues in the case even once said that it is not interesting to work with me, in terms of the fact that there is no intrigue that my opponents expected, since I predicted 100% how it would all end.

  • Alexander Dobrovinsky

  • RT

- What kind of relationship do you have with Pashayev?

Did he contact you with a “personal” proposal on the Efremov case?

- Fortunately, I did not have and do not have any relations with the lawyer Pashayev.

We met at the trial of Mikhail Efremov.

No proposals have been received either from Elman Pashayev or from anyone else on the part of Mr. Efremov.

Although I have always said that the Zakharov family was open to dialogue.

- What is the difference between such a case without the participation of celebrities from the case of Efremov?

- The difference is in public attention, of course.

This case became resonant, probably everyone in our country discussed it.

This was due to several factors: people got bored of being in quarantine when nothing was discussed in addition to news about the coronavirus;

the second, of course, is the popularity of Mikhail Olegovich.

Everyone was wondering if he would be able to "excuse himself", as many famous and rich people do.

And this case, indeed, became a landmark, and Mikhail Efremov, no matter how sorry, became an example of the fact that everyone is equal before the law.

- Will Yefremov's case be included in the textbooks on jurisprudence?

And if so, in what capacity?

- I am sure that it will enter, at least I am actively invited to lecture at institutes on this topic.

First, as I said, this case became a landmark, as it put an end to situations where the rich and famous can escape punishment.

Secondly, the whole process took place under close public scrutiny.

And this imposed a great responsibility, since I understood that practically the whole country was watching all my actions and statements.

You see, this is the first case that has shown in such detail the work of lawyers, both positive and not very good.

I think that an example that perjury is punishable will certainly be remembered by everyone.

And there are a lot of such indicative moments.

- Did the public resonance help in defending the interests of the injured party?

- Public interest, I think, contributed to the fact that the case could not be hushed up, as the Zakharovs feared.

After all, they went to television, because they feared this, and they asked me to make the case public, so that the perpetrator of the death of their loved one would not be able to escape punishment.

Plus, of course, a lot of help was in finding key witnesses, who put an end to this case, confirming the presence of Mikhail Efremov at the wheel of his car at the time of the accident.

The whole country was riveted on the news around this case, so when I showed the photographs of the witnesses I was looking for, they called me the very next day.

- Why, in your opinion, did the defense side involve Dzhigurda, orchestras and other "active people" in the case and staged performances near the courthouse?

And is it their handiwork at all?

- It is clear that these are all attempts to divert attention from the process itself.

After all, the more you try to convince that Mikhail Efremov is not to blame, the more likely it is that people will involuntarily begin to think about it, look for reasons.

So speculation arose that the accident was set up by the FSB officers, or that another person was driving, then a woman was driving, or the accident was affected by black holes.

And after all, many believed in these stories.

And some still believe, despite the fact that Mikhail Olegovich has already admitted his guilt.

- What is your attitude to Efremov?

Was he highly dependent on the decisions of the lawyer or was his behavior sincere during the trial?

- I could not have anything to do with Mikhail Efremov, since I did not know him before.

That is, I saw films with him, his performances in the theater, but as a person I did not know him.

I only heard from people who have known him for many years that he is a malleable person and was very afraid of going to jail.

You see, be that as it may, Mikhail Efremov is an adult adequate person, and if he considered something in the behavior of his lawyers to be wrong or out of the ordinary, he could stop it at any moment.

But he did not stop, and even joined in the process - he threw mud at the unfortunate people, although he had to beg them for forgiveness, for some reason he said nasty things to me, agreed to these would-be witnesses, although he knew that what they would say at the trial, not true.

But he did just that, and it led to eight years in prison.

- How do you feel about the first video message of Efremov, immediately after the accident, and those letters that she began to write from prison?

“The first video message made it possible to think that the process would follow one path — the path of repentance and admission of guilt, which could lead to a more humane punishment.

Unfortunately, Mikhail Efremov decided to try his luck.

The letters that the Zakharovs and I received from Mikhail Olegovich from prison evoked different feelings.

On the one hand, they were written too late (he wrote these letters at the very beginning, then everything could be different).

On the other hand, he found the strength to admit his mistakes, which undoubtedly commands respect.

As I said, I am sorry that he was the cause of the tragedy that broke into two families on that unfortunate day.