A millionaire lawmaker from Russia’s Far East has said he “accidentally” shot dead a man he mistook for a bear that had been terrorizing the local community.
Igor Redkin, a local assembly deputy in the Kamchatka region, turned himself in to the police on Tuesday after the incident.
“A tragedy occurred on Aug. 2 in which I, Igor Vladimirovich Redkin, became an unwitting participant,” Redkin said in a statement to the local Kam24.ru news website.
“In the evening, I learned that a bear was wandering around a landfill in the village of Ozernovsky and was threatening local residents,” he said.
“I took a gun and decided to scare it away. I shot at the bear at dusk. I later learned that a local resident was wounded in the area around the same time and died in the hospital.”
Kam24.ru identified the victim as 30-year-old Andrei Tolstopyatov.
The lawmaker said he has suspended his membership in Russia’s ruling political party United Russia and withdrawn his re-election campaign to the Kamchatka assembly in next month's vote.
Some locals dispute Redkin’s account, with Kam24.ru reporting that he may have been engaged in reckless shooting while drunk.
A court in the Kamchatka region 6,500 kilometers east of Moscow placed Redkin under house arrest pending a murder investigation, state media reported Wednesday.
The remote peninsula is famed for its population of 20,000 brown bears, who regularly come into contact with humans.
Forbes Russia has ranked Redkin, a fishing and aviation magnate, as the country's 20th richest public official with a net worth of 715.7 million rubles ($9.7 million).
Kam24.ru, citing unnamed sources, reported that Redkin could face lesser charges of involuntary slaughter that are punishable by a maximum prison sentence of 2 years.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.
