State Duma Deputy Rashkin was given three years probation for illegal elk hunting

According to the decision of the Kalininsky District Court of the Saratov Region, three years of probation is accompanied by a two-year probationary period. If during this period Rashkin commits a repeated violation of the law, his punishment may be tougher.

According to Interfax, citing lawyer Konstantin Lazarev, the defense intends to appeal the verdict, which they consider unfair.

A day earlier, it became known that the state prosecution had requested a 3.5-year suspended sentence for the deputy on charges of illegal hunting in the Saratov region.

The Investigative Committee found that on the night of October 29, 2021, a deputy shot a moose in the Saratov region without the necessary license. Then he hid the weapon, butchered the carcass and tried to leave the scene of the crime, but he was detained by law enforcement officers.

Rashkin was charged in accordance with Part 2 of Art. 258 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - "Illegal hunting by a group of persons by prior agreement", which implies up to five years in prison.

In addition to criminal prosecution, the State Duma deputy was brought to administrative responsibility, because at the time of his arrest he was driving a car with signs of intoxication. Rashkin was deprived of his driver's license for 1.5 years, and also issued a fine of 30 thousand rubles. The deputy admitted that he killed the moose, but said that he did it by mistake: he allegedly hunted another animal for which he had a license.

In November 2021, the State Duma, at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, deprived Rashkin of his parliamentary immunity and agreed to initiate a criminal case.

As Forbes notes, after the incident, Rashkin said that he had made the decision “with a desire to quit”, closed the permit for the storage of weapons and voluntarily gave it to the store for sale. Instead of shooting animals, he decided to switch his energies to charitable work.