MADRID, February 26. /TASS/. There are no signs that a crime was committed in the death of Igor Malashenko, one of the founders of Russia’s NTV television channel, the High Court of Justice of Andalusia told TASS on Tuesday.
"This morning a preliminary autopsy report was received, which says that the death was as a result of hanging, so according to preliminary data, there are no signs of a crime," the court said. The final autopsy report will be ready within a month.
On Monday, the Russian Embassy in Madrid said that Spain’s Civil Guard confirmed that Malashenko suddenly passed away in Spain at the age of 64 and an investigation was launched.
Malashenko was behind Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s 1996 re-election campaign and also led the election headquarters of Russian presidential contender Kseniya Sobchak last year.
He graduated from the philosophy department of Moscow State University and then worked at the Institute of US and Canadian Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
From 1992, he was director general of the Ostankino TV and Radio Broadcasting Company and held the post of the NTV head from 1993 to 1997. From 2000, Malashenko moved to live in the United States, and also frequently visited Spain.