PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, August 13. /TASS/. Investigators have charged a member of Kamchatka’s legislative assembly, Igor Redkin, with committing a crime under part 1 of article 105 of the Criminal Code (premeditated murder) the press service of the regional office of Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

On August 6, the Investigative Committee’s office in Ust-Bolsheretsk opened a criminal case over the killing of a 30-year-old man. According to the investigators, on the evening of August 2, a local resident suffered a gunshot wound at a garbage dump near the village of Ozernovsky, the Ust-Bolsheretsk district, and died in the hospital a short while later. On August 10, a member of Kamchatka’s legislative assembly, Igor Redkin, made a confession he had killed the person by negligence.

"The investigation has gathered sufficient evidence indicating it was a premeditated murder. On August 10, Redkin was charged with committing a crime described in part 1 of article 105 of the Criminal Code. The probe into the circumstances of the premeditated murder is continuing and detective and other procedural measures for gathering evidence are being taken," the news release runs. Also, the investigators are checking the accused person’s own version of the incident. He argues he had caused death by negligence.

For the past 20 years, Igor Redkin has been a businessman, operating in Kamchatka. Redkin is a co-owner of several major enterprises in the region and Russia's wealthiest politician. His officially declared income for the past three years is about 1.5 billion rubles. Since 2007 he has been a member of Kamchatka’s legislative assembly from the United Russia party. Now he has been dropped from the party at his own request.