Communist party leader loses immunity over ‘elk hunt’

RUSSIA’S parliament yesterday voted to strip a Communist firebrand leader of immunity from criminal prosecution over an illegal hunt in a murky case that highlighted Kremlin jitters about the opposition party’s growing popularity.

Valery Rashkin, a senior lawmaker who attracted young and progressive supporters to the party, was caught by police and rangers with an elk carcass in the woods of his constituency near the Volga River in late October.

A leaked video showed Mr Rashkin in hunting clothes saying he stumbled upon the carcass on a walk. The scandal erupted at a time when Communists showed strong gains in September’s parliamentary elections while Mr Rashkin spearheaded protests against vote-rigging in Moscow’s e-voting.

Mr Rashkin confessed in a video three weeks later, saying he was assured by a long-time friend that they had a hunting licence. He said he shot an animal in the dark, thinking it was a boar.

He said he lied about the carcass as he was too “perplexed, tired and confused” and claimed he fell victim to a “preplanned provocation.”

Igor Krasnov, the prosecutor general, who spoke at the State Duma yesterday, said he had no doubt that “Rashkin committed a premeditated crime, shot and killed the animal” and urged the lawmaker to “act like a man”.

Mr Rashkin could face up to two years in prison if convicted.

Before the parliament’s overwhelming vote, Mr Rashkin cited the prosecutors’ motion to raid the premises of the party’s regional chapters as a sign that he was persecuted on political grounds.

He said: “Is this about the elk? Or maybe you’re preparing to decimate the Communist party?”