Hrachia Harutynian to be held in custody until December 14

The Tverskoy court of Moscow ruled that Armenian citizen Hrachia Harutyunian detained earlier in connection with the July 13 deadly crash in the city of Podolsk should remain in custody, ITAR-TASS reported, quoting H. Harutyunian’s lawyer, Ruben Margarian.

“The court today granted the investigator’s petition to extend Narutyunian’s detention until December 14, “the lawyer said.

Let us remind you that 18 people died and 30 others received injuries when a truck collided with a passenger bus on July 13 in the so-called new Moscow, near Podolsk. Harutyunian is charged with violation of traffic safety rules resulting in inadvertent killings of two or more people. He is facing 7 years in prison, with his driving license to be revoked for up to 3 years. Earlier this week he pleaded guilty, saying that he deeply regrets the accident.

According to ITAR-TASS, Hrachia Harutyunian told the investigator that he was trying to avoid a collision with cars that slowed down in front of him at the intersection and then he took the wrong decision to drive his truck into the oncoming lane which was empty. The brakes of KamAZ truck laden with gravel refused to act and the truck plowed into the passenger bus.