MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) – Investigators in Russia said on Tuesday they were searching for a new suspect believed to have ordered the murder of United Russia lawmaker Mikhail Pakhomov.
Pakhomov, 36, a legislator in the Lipetsk city parliament with the ruling United Russia party, was reported missing early last week. His body was found stuffed into a cement barrel in the Moscow Region on Tuesday.
Eight people have been arrested in connection with his death, including Yevgeny Kharitonov, 40, a former Moscow Region housing utilities official, who is suspected of ordering Pakhomov’s murder.
Police said on Tuesday they believed Kharitonov’s business partner, Sergei Krasovsky, was also involved in ordering the lawmaker’s murder and said they had placed him on the wanted list.
An investigation source said Krasovsky, a resident of south Russia’s Krasnodar region, was the former general director of the Lipetsk special economic zone.
Investigators said on Tuesday they believed Pakhomov, a United Russia party member since 2003, had been murdered over unpaid debts.
