English

Car chase driver sentenced to prison over human roadblock incident

Raman Myantsyuk, a speeding driver whom traffic police tried to capture near Minsk this past March by using civilian vehicles with people still inside, was sentenced on October 29 to five years in a low-security correctional institution, BelaPAN said.

Syarhey Afonski, judge of the Minsk District Court, also banned the person from driving for a period of five years.

Mr. Myantsyuk was found guilty of causing a grave bodily injury as a result of a violation of road traffic rules.
The judge took sides with the prosecution in the trial who demanded such a sentence, the maximum prison term that may be imposed for the offense.

The incident, dubbed the "human roadblock" by the media, occurred near Minsk on March 2. Two traffic police officers used four vehicles, with their occupants still inside, to block a road in order to catch Mr. Myantsyuk who was under the influence of alcohol. The chased car, which was said to be moving at a speed of between 160 and 180 kilometers per hour, never stopped and crashed into the vehicles, with a BMW in which a woman and a child were in the back seat hit worst.

The police officers were given suspended prison sentences, found guilty of office abuse, while Mr. Myantsyuk and his wife went on the run. They were arrested in Moscow in early July.

The prosecution mentioned the previous four convictions of the accused, claiming that the person was able to notice the roadblock in advance and prevent the crash.

In his final statement, Mr. Myantsyuk admitted that he was acting recklessly and put the life of other people at risk but asked the judge not to sentence him to prison but give him a chance to improve by his own.

"I am not a criminal and I have never been such," he said.

The judge ordered Mr. Myantsyuk to pay 2,166,000-rubel damages to the Minsk City First Aid Hospital for the treatment of the crash`s victims and 2,770,000-rubel damages to the Minsk regional police department for the search of the pair.

When the trial began on Wednesday morning, Mr. Myantsyuk warned that he would go on hunger strike if sentenced to prison. He denied that he was a criminal and accused the prosecution of being biased against him. He also asked the judge to take into account the pregnancy of his wife.

When leaving the courtroom under guard after the judgment was pronounced, Mr. Myantsyuk said that he would refuse food, branding the hearing as unfair.

His wife has also been charged over the incident. She is to stand trial later.