Alexander Lapin is seeking to initiate a criminal case against the Torbovo peasant farm

The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Voronezh Region, due to the lack of corpus delicti, refused to initiate a criminal case against the management of the peasant farm (peasant farm) "Torbovo" under the article "Fraud" of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the owner of the media holding Publishing House "Svobodnaya Pressa", a deputy of the regional Duma, Alexander Lapin. However, the prosecutor's office sent the investigators' conclusion for additional verification. The conflict between the parliamentarian and the hunting enterprise occurred due to an unsuccessful hunt, as a result of which the organizer and participant got off with fines, and the victims and injured were a pregnant doe and the media.

The conflict between the owner of the Free Press media holding, Alexander Lapin, and the management of the Torbovo peasant farm began in early January, when the deputy came to the farm to hunt. Further versions of what happened differ. The management of the hunting farm insists that the regional Duma deputy allegedly purposefully killed a couple of animals, including a pregnant doe, for which he was not given permission to shoot, although the huntsman warned Mr. Lapin against such actions. As a result, the hunting management administration imposed a fine on the deputy in the amount of 750 thousand rubles. “He paid us the fine in cash and even apologized,” the hunting department emphasizes.

The hunter himself, a few days later, put forward a different version of events, moreover, through the media under his control. In one of the newspapers of the Free Press Publishing House in mid-January, a publication appeared about the unsuccessful hunt of the reader “Alexander L.” The material notes that the hunter made a mistake when choosing a target due to the fact that he was given a weapon with a poor optical sight, which is why he became “low-blind.” In addition, during the hunt around "Alexander L." allegedly drunk armed men walked around, putting his life in danger. In response to this publication, the management of the Torbovo peasant farm posted several advertising texts. In these materials, representatives of the hunting management stated that they were “outraged by the behavior” of Mr. Lapin, who violated “civilized rules of behavior while hunting.”

The conflict was not limited to mutual accusations in the information space. In mid-January, Alexander Lapin submitted applications to check the legality of Torbov’s activities to the police, Rosprirodnadzor and the regional hunting inspectorate. In particular, he demanded that the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs open a criminal case on the fact of fraud, which, according to the deputy, took place when collecting a fine from him. Yesterday, the police confirmed the fact of Mr. Lapin’s appeal, but noted that he was refused to initiate a criminal case due to the lack of evidence of a crime. However, as Kommersant found out, the prosecutor’s office recently sent the materials for additional verification. In addition, yesterday the head of the Torbovo farm, Sergei Aksenov, was fined 11 thousand rubles by the hunting inspectorate for organizing poaching. According to him, the protracted hunting conflict is now continued by Mr. Lapin with the help of administrative resources.

Mr. Lapin practically refused to comment yesterday. “Don't get involved in this matter. I'll skin you. What else?” he told a Kommersant correspondent.

It is worth noting that Alexander Lapin filed lawsuits against a number of media outlets that published advertising materials paid for by the management of the Torbovo peasant farm. In particular, the deputy filed a lawsuit against Kommersant in the Leninsky District Court of Voronezh. Mr. Lapin asks to compensate for moral damage, which he estimated at 200 thousand rubles, and also to print a refutation of the facts stated in the advertising publication.

Alexander Khoryakov

Hunting maneuver

Hunting maneuver