MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin is pressing criminal charges over an illegal hunting incident against a lawmaker from the Communist Party faction (CPRF) in Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament) Valery Rashkin, Investigative Committee Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told journalists on Thursday.
On November 25, the Russian State Duma voted to strip Rashkin of immunity and initiate a criminal case against him. He faces up to five years in prison.
The investigation established that on the night of October 29, on the territory of the Saratov Region’s hunting grounds, Rashkin armed with a carbine along with other individuals, killed a moose. Petrenko clarified that the legislator did not have a hunting permit.
According to her, having killed the animal, Rashkin hid the carbine and carved up the moose carcass with a knife and an ax. "They put the pieces of the moose carcass in the trunk and passenger compartment of a LADA Largus automobile, and then left the hunting site," Petrenko reported. Later, the vehicle was detained by an employee of the Committee for Hunting and Fishing of the Saratov Region, who uncovered the illegal hunting incident.