A court in Russia's Belgorod region will decide on February 17 if actor Mikhail Yefremov, an outspoken Kremlin critic who is serving a 7 1/2- year prison term for causing a deadly car accident, can be transferred to an open prison colony, a facility with a less strict prison regime.
The Alekseyevka district court said on January 24 that it had received Yefremov's request for transfer to an open prison from his lawyers.
Prisoners in open prison colonies serve their terms under conditions that are seen as less harsh than other prisons.
Moscow's Presnensky district court initially sentenced Yefremov in September 2020 to eight years in prison after finding him guilty of "causing a deadly traffic accident while driving under the influence."
In late October that year, the Moscow City Court cut Yefremov's prison term by six months.
Police say Yefremov was inebriated when he drove his car at high speed into an oncoming lane in central Moscow on the evening of June 8, hitting a car.
Yefremov did not suffer any injuries in the accident but another car's driver, 57-year-old 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 had traces of drugs, including cocaine, in his blood at the moment of the accident.
Performances by the 59-year-old Yefremov satirizing President Vladimir Putin and his policies have proven popular among Russians in recent years.
