On August 2, Senator Dmitry Savelyev was detained in Moscow on suspicion of hiring someone to assassinate a former business partner, according to a statement from the Russian Investigative Committee.
Thượng nghị sĩ Dmitry Savelyev. (Ảnh: Sputnik)
Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov unexpectedly appeared at the Federation Council (the upper house of the Russian parliament) just as a session was about to end and detained Savelyev as he was leaving the meeting room.
“The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against Senator Dmitry Vladimirovich Savelyev on charges of planning a murder,” committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement, describing the senator’s actions as “motivated by personal enmity.”
According to Petrenko, in August 2023, Savelyev asked his associates to hire someone to “assassinate a businessman” identified by the media as Sergey Ionov.
Ionov is said to be Petrenko’s former business partner and embezzled money from the company they co-managed. Ionov was jailed for this crime, and the company fell into the hands of Savelyev’s sons.
Mr. Savelyev was later suspected of offering a $100,000 reward for Ionov’s assassination. His associates hired an employee of the Federal Prison Service (FSIN) to carry out the plan. However, after reaching an agreement with the senator and his accomplices, the hired assassin reported the incident to the Federal Security Service (FSB). With the cooperation of the FSB, the assassin staged a fake assassination, including a fake ambulance call and a police report to create evidence. According to prosecutors, Mr. Savelyev was satisfied and paid the assassin.
Senator Savelyev is expected to stand trial in Moscow and faces charges under Articles 30, 33 and 105 of the Russian Criminal Code.
Mr Savelyev was first elected to the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) from the Nizhny Novgorod region in 1999. In 2016, he was elected to the Federation Council as a senator from the Tula region. Forbes lists him as one of the 50 richest public officials in Russia.
