(Moscow) A committee of the lower house of the Russian Parliament on Monday recommended lifting the parliamentary immunity of Communist deputy Valéri Rachkine, implicated in an illegal hunting case that critics of the Kremlin consider political.
Russian Duma deputies will have to vote on Thursday, in plenary session, to authorize prosecution against Mr. Rashkin, 66, also first secretary of the Communist Party in Moscow.
Poacher or too critical?
On October 29, he was arrested in a forest in the Saratov (Volga) region with the remains of a moose in the trunk of his car, initially claiming to have found the animal already dead, before confessing last week have shot him.
A case for “illegal hunting”, punishable by up to two years in prison, has been opened.
Critical voices have accused the authorities of wanting to punish Valéri Rachkine, who had distinguished himself for his virulent criticism of the Kremlin during the campaign for the legislative elections in September.
In these elections, largely won by the ruling party (United Russia), the Communist Party of Russia (KPRF) nonetheless made a breakthrough, obtaining 57 seats, 15 more than in the 2016 election.
The Communists benefited in particular from a climate of social discontent and the postponement of the votes of the supporters of the imprisoned opponent Alexeï Navalny, whose movement was banned and deprived of candidates.
The KPRF had also denounced massive fraud during the ballot, in particular concerning online votes.
The party in power “United Russia stole the seats of the deputies”, had declared in front of a crowd of demonstrators Valéri Rachkine, criticizing a “colossal electoral fraud”.
KPRF elected officials generally vote in favor of the big measures proposed by the Kremlin, but they can also strongly oppose the candidates for power, especially in the regions.
In 2018, they actively demonstrated against the pension reform adopted on the proposal of Vladimir Putin.
On Monday, a representative of the Russian Prosecutor’s Office, Sergei Botchkarev, assured that the prosecution against Valéri Rachkine was not “an order” of the authorities.
The same day, in front of the Duma, the person concerned said he was ready to pay 80,000 rubles (950 euros) in compensation and to buy and then release a moose of the same size in the same forest, as compensation.