Prosecutor's office opens criminal case against Dorenko

A source in the Russian prosecutor general's office has said that a criminal case has been opened against Sergei Dorenko in connection with a traffic accident involving the journalist. The prosecutor's office has taken this step to ensure the objectivity of the investigation. The source said that he did not have any details about the given case, which is within the competence of the capital's law-enforcement bodies. As a rule, if a traffic accident does not result in a fatality, then Interior Ministry officials investigate the incident. However, the source stressed that the given case had particular public resonance and that there were many contradictory versions about what happened. According to the information of law-enforcement bodies, Moscow's Kuntsevsky inter-regional prosecutor's office had opened a case of actual bodily harm under the "premeditated infliction of bodily harm of medium gravity" article of the criminal code, which means Dorenko could face between three months detention and up to three years in gaol. Police from Moscow western administrative district received a call concerning a traffic accident on Sunday evening near a resort area in the city. Two officers arrived on the scene, whereupon it was established that the driver of a Honda motorcycle had knocked down a pedestrian. The motorcyclist turned out to be the famous television journalist Sergei Dorenko. The pedestrian, head of naval HQ Valery Nikitin, received a contusion to the left shin, a broken breastbone, concussion and abrasions in the temporal area. Dorenko denies the incident took place. A press-release received by RIA Novosti from the press department of the Interior Ministry stated that "as a result of a crash [involving] a motorcycle, driven by Sergei Dorenko, two pedestrians were injured." One of these was later taken to hospital. The injured party is insisting upon the fact that his injuries were caused by the deliberate actions of the motorcyclist, who inflicted the wounds after he [the pedestrian] had made a remark.

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