The Irkutsk regional court is hearing an appeal in the case of Yulia Kiseleva, convicted for a fatal crash on Baikalskaya Street. The prosecutor seeks to increase the sentence from 3.5 to 5.5 years in prison, insisting on real jail time because two people died. The report details how the case developed, what mitigating circumstances the court considered, and why the appeal decision has caused such public outcry.

The decision will be handed down in the Irkutsk Regional Court in the case of Irkutsk Duma deputy Yulia Kiseleva’s daughter. Her sentence in a settlement colony for the fatal crash on Baikalskaya Street may be increased.
The state prosecutor from the Oktyabrsky District Prosecutor’s Office of Irkutsk asked to increase the sentence for the daughter of Irkutsk Duma deputy Yulia Kiseleva from 3.5 years in a settlement colony to 5.5 years in prison. The appeal against the sentence of the person found guilty in the fatal traffic accident began to be heard on February 25 in the Irkutsk Regional Court.
— The state prosecutor is asking that Kiseleva be sentenced to 4 to 6 years in prison, that is, not below the lower limit. The sanction under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for up to 9 years in prison. We are waiting for the regional court’s decision, — said Veronika Matveeva.
As a reminder, on July 27, 2015, a traffic accident occurred at the intersection of Baikalskaya and Piskunova streets. Law enforcement officers established that the driver of a Mercedes-Benz, Yulia Kiseleva, crashed into a Toyota Highlander SUV that was standing at a red traffic light, which after the impact collided with two more cars. As a result of the accident, the driver and passenger of the SUV died from their injuries.
In the traffic accident, the head of the criminal investigation department of Police Station No. 4 in Irkutsk, Albert Sokolov, and his friend, construction company head Denis Matveev, who was driving, were killed. The Mercedes-Benz was driven by the daughter of City Duma deputy Zhanna Eseeva. As a result of the accident, she sustained various injuries.
On July 29, Zhanna Eseeva submitted a resignation letter, stressing that she did not accept claims that her status as a deputy could hinder the investigation.
"I am a mother, and I will help my daughter in this difficult situation, but I do not accept speculation that my status as a deputy could hinder an objective and fair investigation," she emphasized.
At the beginning of October, Zhanna Eseeva withdrew her resignation letter. Residents have a negative attitude toward this decision by Irkutsk Duma deputy Zhanna Eseeva. The people of Irkutsk condemn this act from a moral standpoint.
On August 7, by decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court, Yulia Kiseleva was arrested for 2 months. Soon after, the lawyers of the alleged culprit in the accident filed an appeal with the Irkutsk Regional Court against the Oktyabrsky District Court’s decision to remand her in custody. The defense based the appeal on the fact that the girl had serious injuries and needed treatment. The Irkutsk Regional Court upheld the Oktyabrsky District Court’s decision to remand the alleged culprit in the fatal traffic accident in custody.
Yulia Kiseleva was charged with committing a crime under Part 6 of Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of traffic rules committed by a person in a state of intoxication, negligently causing the death of two persons). She faced up to 9 years in prison.
As a reminder, when sentencing Yulia Kiseleva, the court recognized a number of mitigating circumstances. The daughter of the Irkutsk Duma deputy had no prior convictions, had a 3-year-old sick child, and was positively characterized at work and at home. When passing sentence, sufficient attention was paid to the psychologist’s report provided to the court by the defense. The report stated that Kiseleva’s child would not be able to live separated from her mother, and this could affect the girl’s psychological health in the future.
The lawyer for the injured party noted that on the night of July 27, when the fatal accident occurred, Kiseleva’s young daughter was left at night without the supervision of relatives. Yulia Kiseleva, while intoxicated, was driving around the city with a 19-year-old young man; her ex-husband was at the Broadway bar-restaurant, while her grandmother, deputy Zhanna Eseeva, and her husband were on vacation.
The sentence was also mitigated by the fact that during the investigation Kiseleva’s relatives compensated for material and moral damages not only to the victims (2.6 million rubles), but also to two people whose cars were damaged during the terrible accident.
Before the sentence was handed down to Kiseleva, the state prosecutor spoke in court.
"The crime committed by Yulia Kiseleva is classified by the legislator as a crime of medium gravity, committed through negligence. The defendant is being brought to criminal responsibility for the first time, and she is also positively characterized, has a family (divorced from her husband — editor’s note), a minor child, and works. At the same time, it was precisely because of the defendant’s negligent, irresponsible actions that irreversible consequences occurred for the victims of the traffic accident in the form of death. The families of the victims were left without the support of the people closest to them; wives lost their husbands, who were their support in everything in life. Minor children lost their fathers not by fate, but because of the defendant. The defendant has repeatedly been held administratively liable in the area of road traffic, she has not drawn the proper conclusions for herself, and she is not independently taking the path of reform.
It is necessary to impose on the defendant a sentence in the form of a real prison term. This type of punishment will have a corrective effect on the defendant and will make it possible to achieve the purpose of criminal punishment. Based on the above, I ask the court to find Yulia Kiseleva guilty and impose a sentence of 4 years’ imprisonment…", said the state prosecutor.