Drunk driving diplomat's appeal rejected

A former Russian diplomat who ran down two Ottawa women in a deadly drunk driving incident will have to serve his full sentence.

Andrei Knyazev, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter this year in a Russian court, will head for a penal colony in Siberia after the May Day holiday. A panel of three judges took less than an hour to reject his lawyer's arguments that Knyazev's sentence should be suspended.

In January, 2001, Knyazev's car jumped a curb and ran over lawyer Catherine MacLean and her friend Catherine Dor, who were out walking MacLean's dog. MacLean was killed and Dor suffered severe injuries.

• FROM MARCH 19, 2002: Former Russian diplomat guilty of involuntary manslaughter

The incident caused a stir when Knyazev, who was working at the Russian Embassy in Ottawa, refused to take a roadside breathalyser and invoked diplomatic immunity. He was expelled from the country.

He had been stopped for impaired driving twice before.

After his conviction in March, Knyazev, 47, appealed his sentence. The maximum sentence he faced was five years. He was sentenced to four years because it was his first conviction.

Knyazev wasn't in court to hear the ruling on Monday.