Two years to the day after a fatal crash in Monaco’s Millennium Tunnel claimed the life of his 19-year-old daughter Dilara, Vugar Akhundov watched a Monaco court sentence the driver to five years in prison. The Azerbaijan native tells Monaco Life’s Cassandra Tanti he can finally believe justice has prevailed, though the pain of losing his daughter remains overwhelming.
“Until the last moment I had the feeling that this man could leave the courthouse as he came there, freely,” Akhundov tells me following Tuesday’s sentencing. “It would have been worthless for us to come here, to wait two years for justice.”
Mirco P., a 24-year-old Finnish national, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and involuntary causing of injuries for the 17th December 2023 crash that killed Dilara Akhundova and Ayana, both 19, whilst seriously injuring two other passengers. The driver had a blood alcohol level of 1.87 grams per litre and was travelling at 107 kilometres per hour when his Audi RS4 struck the tunnel wall. He had also disabled the front seatbelt where Dilara was seated.
Two years of painful waiting
For Vugar and his wife Nargiz, the past two years brought constant anguish. The driver was not imprisoned during the investigation, and Akhundov encountered him multiple times around Monaco.
“Over the past two years he was walking around free in Monaco, laughing, breathing freely, and several times when I was in Monaco I saw him in cafes, restaurants, walking around on the beaches,” Akhundov said. “It was very painful for us to know that this guy is living as if nothing happened. We lost the most precious thing that we have — our child — and this man was living like nothing happened.”
It is for that reason Akhundov feared that the sentence, when it finally came, would be insufficient. “I had concerns that maybe the sentence will be light, not adequate to what he did,” he said.
The five-year sentence handed down in a Monaco Criminal Court on Tuesday fell one year short of the maximum six-year term requested by the prosecutor, but Akhundov acknowledges it represents a significant penalty. “This five years is not that heavy but it is close to the maximum allowed in Monaco, and it is a full prison term,” he said. “This was a relief for all of us, and now I am 100% sure that Monaco is really a state that respects the rule of law.”
A deliberate choice, not fate
Akhundov emphasises that the crash resulted from conscious decisions, not unfortunate circumstances – decisions that could have been stopped at any stage. “It was not just fate, or the circumstance — it was his choice, it was a deliberate choice to drive drunk, a choice to speed, to accelerate to extreme speed, his choice to disable the seat belt,” he said.
The father believes the sentence sends a crucial message. “The death of our children should be a warning to other young people that behind it all – the fun, the speed – is a human life,” he said.
Campaign drives policy changes
Following the tragedy, Akhundov launched the Justice for Dilara and Ayana campaign. The Monaco government received him twice — first in February 2024, two months after the accident, and again in September 2025 — to discuss the tragedy and how Monaco could improve road safety.
“The first thing I saw here after the accident was the lack of traffic control on the roads of Monaco,” Akhundov explained. “But I can see that the situation has changed over the past two years. I see the police cars stopping and checking, BeSafe (free driver service) is very active now, so things are progressing in the right direction.”
In November 2025, Monaco’s National Council passed legislation increasing penalties for serious traffic infringements, including drunk driving and speeding offences. Akhundov welcomes the changes but stresses the need for continued vigilance.
“There are a lot of bars and restaurants serving alcohol in Monaco — this is normal for every country — but people should be aware that if they drink, they should not get in the car and drive,” he said. “The police definitely need to be stricter on the roads and at some point the public will just become accustomed to that.”
Legacy through awareness
Akhundov has partnered with local filmmaker Gianni Angelini to create a short film using AI technology to recreate Dilara and that tragic night, transforming their grief into a powerful awareness campaign against drunk and speed driving.
“If we can link her legacy in films for safe driving and road security, and help the authorities and societies to decrease the number of tragic accidents, we will be happy with that,” Akhundov said.
He emphasises that such tragedies should not define Monaco. “It is a lovely place, it is very beautiful, it is a place where people should live and be happy, joyous, and these bad accidents shouldn’t happen on the roads of Monaco,” he said.
“My main goal was to make it possible to prevent this from happening again in the future, and that justice for Dilara was served,” Akhundov concluded. “I think that partially our mission is accomplished.”
Monaco Life will publish a full video interview about the extroardinary use of AI technology to honour Dilara’s memory and the Akhundova’s road safety awareness campaign soon.
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Main photo by Cassandra Tanti
