MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. The Russian State Duma’s (lower parliament house) commission on mandates has issued a draft resolution on stripping Communist lawmaker Valery Rashkin of his mandate following a court ruling awarding him a three-year suspended sentence for illegal hunting.
"Following the enforcement of the court ruling, the mandate of State Duma member Valery Rashkin, who was elected on a Communist Party ticket, is terminated as of May 23, 2022," reads the document posted on the Duma’s e-base on Tuesday.
Russia’s Investigative Committee (IC) charged Rashkin under part 2 of article 258 of the Criminal Code (illegal hunting), which envisages a fine of 500,000 rubles (880,000 US dollars) to 1,000,000 (17,600 US dollars) rubles or a prison term of three to five years and a three-year ban on taking certain posts for a period of three years.
The IC said Rashkin last October took part in illegal hunting in the Saratov Region and killed an elk. Initially he denied his participation in hunting. He said the animal’s body, found in his car, had been picked up when the elk was already dead. Later, he confessed that he did participate in hunting but was unaware there was no license.