The Kalininsky District Court of the Saratov Region on Friday announced the verdict to State Duma deputy from the Communist Party Valery Rashkin, who was accused of illegal hunting.

Rashkin was found guilty of killing an elk without proper permission and sentenced to three years' suspended imprisonment with two years' probation.

The court also banned him from hunting for two years.

Before the start of the meeting, which was held in the city of Kalininsk, he told reporters that he pleaded guilty, making it clear that at the time of the hunt he did not realize the illegality of his actions.

“They took the documents from my hunter friends.

They didn't have a document.

I didn't write permission for myself.

And if there is no document, then in any case I did not check, I was not convinced, I trusted my friends.

Ignorance of the law does not remove guilt.

Therefore, I recognize it, objectively I recognize it, ”said the deputy.

He called the incident a lesson and declared that he would never hunt again.

“I sold all the guns, I gave permission for the storage of weapons and ammunition.

I am open to the public and hunter friends, I told everyone: “I will never hunt again, never,” said the deputy.

Rashkin also said that he compensated for all the damage caused by illegal hunting, paid all fines, and also bought a moose cow in the Irkutsk region.

Meanwhile, a few days ago, State Duma deputy Olga Alimova complained that the authorities of the Saratov region did not accept a moose cow from a deputy, because "they don't know what to do in such cases."

Recall that the illegal hunting itself, as a result of which the elk was killed, took place on the night of October 29, 2021 in the Lysogorsky district of the Saratov region.

Rashkin was stopped on a forest road by a local district police officer and a representative of the hunting committee. 

During the inspection, fragments of an elk carcass and two bloody knives were found in the back of the car driven by the deputy.

Among other things, the parliamentarian, who was suspected of drunk driving, refused to undergo a medical examination, for which he was later deprived of his driver's license for a year and a half and fined 30 thousand rubles.

  • State Duma deputy from the Communist Party Valery Rashkin in the courtroom.

    Event date: 01/24/2022

  • RIA News

  • © Press Service of the Moscow City Court

Immediately after the incident, the deputy denied his guilt, claiming that he accidentally found the carcass of an animal in the forest, but on November 18 he published a video message in which he nevertheless admitted the fact of killing the animal.

Then he noted that he confused him with a wild boar, and added that he was the victim of a provocation.

At the end of November, Rashkin was deprived of his parliamentary immunity, after which the chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, on December 2, opened a criminal case against him under Part 2 of Art.

258 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal hunting by a group of persons by prior agreement).

Under this article, Rashkin was threatened with up to five years in prison.

On Thursday, during the debate of the parties, the state prosecution demanded for him a sentence of three and a half years in a suspended colony with a probationary period of four and a half years.

In turn, the defense insisted on stopping the criminal prosecution and imposing a court fine.

Despite the fact that the court ultimately did not fully agree with the demands of the prosecution, the representative of the prosecutor's office was satisfied with the verdict of the court.

“I believe that the punishment to which the court sentenced the defendants is, in this case, fair and corresponds to the nature, degree of social danger of the crime committed and the personality of the defendants.

The court did not establish any aggravating circumstances, ”state prosecutor Anton Ivanov said after the meeting. 

Rashkin, in turn, said after the trial that he would appeal the decision, seeking a court fine.

He also admitted that he would be deprived of the mandate of a State Duma deputy if the verdict remained unchanged.

Nevertheless, Rashkin clarified that in this case he would continue to work in the Communist Party.

“This court decision is of an accusatory nature ... It unequivocally leads to the deprivation of the mandate of a deputy of the State Duma.

It will be put into effect after the appeal is considered and the decision comes into force,” he told reporters.

Consideration of the appeal will take place in the Saratov Regional Court, the date of the meeting will be known later.