KYZYL, June 19 (R-Sport) - A 23-year-old Russian man faces murder charges after he was accused of strangling a local wrestling champion to death with a whip and burying him in the woods near the Mongolian border, authorities said Wednesday.
The victim, a man named Chechen-ool Mongush, had been honored as the Tuva Republic’s athlete of the 20th century for his exploits in a traditional form of wrestling known as Khuresh.
Investigators said the suspect, who was not named, confessed to the killing and led police to the body.
"He attested to the fact that he choked the victim to death with a whip, after which he took the body out to the forest, where he buried him," the Tuva Republic’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Mongush went missing on June 9 after working as a judge at a Khuresh competition, the statement said.
Murder carries a maximum life sentence under Russian law.
