The court has found the evidence gathered by Moscow Main Investigations Directorate of the Russia’s Investigative Committee sufficient to convict Vitaly Grachov (stage name Vitas). He was found guilty of a crime under part 1 of article 318 of the RF Criminal Code (use of violence against a representative of the authority).
The court and investigation have found that on 10 May this year Grachov was driving his car in All-Russia Exhibition Center in Moscow and ran down a cyclist. According to investigators when the police officers started sorting out the incident, Grachov kicked one of them. He refused to take medical alcohol test. During the investigation the accused fully admitted his guilt and cooperated with the investigators.
The court sentenced Grachov to a fine of 100 thousand rubles.
Investigation of the case was carried out in the order determined by the law and of course without consideration of the defendant’s popularity. The primary qualification of the Grachov’s actions was corrected during the investigation, and that proves that the investigation qualified the crime impartially. The fact that the defendant admitted his guilt from the very beginning and the evidence the investigators produced in court were enough to convict the defendant, but the degree of the guilt can be determined by the court only. In any case I believe that this sentence will be a good lesson to not only the singer, but to all those who by any reasons see their popularity as absolution from punishment for breaking the laws. There is no such absolution and will never be.
Head of Media Relations V.I. Markin
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