Communist MP detained for having dead elk in the trunk of his car

A police officer and an employee of the hunting and fishing committee in the Saratov region of Russia stopped the car of the State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Valery Rashkin. A dead elk was found in the trunk of the MP's vehicle.

The incident took place on October 29 in the Lysogorsky district of the region. The Lada Largus vehicle of the Russian MP was registered with the Saratov regional branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Another 49-year-old man was traveling with Rashkin in the vehicle. Rashkin was offered to undergo a medical examination for alcoholic intoxication, but he refused.

"Rashkin explained that they had found the animal in the forest and decided to take it with them to butcher it up. The communist MP confirmed that he was aware that his actions were illegal,” Region 64 news agency reports.

It was later reported that the police officer found in the car fragments of the elk carcass, as well as an axe and two knives with stains of blood on them. The driver of the vehicle said that they found the carcass of the shot elk in the woods and decided to butcher it up.

An administrative protocol was drawn up in relation to Rashkin for the driver's refusal to under the sobriety test.

A refusal to undergo a sobriety test is punishable with a 30,000-ruble fine ($425) and deprivation of the right to drive from 18 months to two years.

Representatives for the department of state control over the use of wildlife of the regional committee for hunting said that they reported the incident of illegal hunting to law enforcement agencies.

"A criminal case was filed Part 1, Art. 258 of the Criminal Code of Russia (Act of illegal hunting entailing major damage)", said the press service of the regional police office said.

A crime of this category is punishable with a fine of up to 500,000 rubles ($7,000), correctional labor of up to two years, or imprisonment for up to two years.

Valery Rashkin is a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, he serves as first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee. In the September elections to the State Duma, Rashkin was not elected in a single-mandate constituency, but was able to become an MP on a party list basis.