MOSCOW, June 22 (RIA Novosti) – Investigators in Russia’s remote Tuva Republic suspect a former legislator of involvement in the murder earlier this month one of the region’s “greatest sportsmen of the 20th century,” they said on Saturday.
Chechen-ool Mongush, a champion in Khuresh, a traditional form of Tuvan wrestling, disappeared shortly after judging at a Khuresh competition on June 9, investigators said.
Earlier this week, investigators said a 23-year-old Russian man had confessed to strangling Mongush to death with a whip and burying him in the woods near the Mongolian border. The suspect, who was not named, 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.
But investigators doubted the suspect’s confession was complete.
“The man’s statement prompted doubts, because the victim was an expert in fighting and self-defense. Another suspect is currently in detention, a former legislator of the Parliament of the Republic of Tuva,” investigators said in a statement.
Both suspects have been placed under formal arrest. If convicted of murder, they face possible life sentences.
