Russia Probe of Deputy Slaying Makes Progress
MOSCOW — Detectives are making headway in their investigation of the killing of a prominent liberal lawmaker and expect to locate witnesses soon, the country’s prosecutor general said Saturday.
“This is the first time we’ve had such a situation on our hands, when people are helping us very actively, and there is a large amount of information that we immediately analyze,” Yuri I. Skuratov said in a television interview.
Parliament deputy Galina V. Starovoitova, 52, was gunned down by unidentified assailants on the stairs of her apartment building in St. Petersburg on Nov. 20. Her killing is believed to have been a contract hit, a crime that is common yet rarely solved in Russia.
Skuratov said detectives are poring over evidence left at the scene and are close to finding people “who could have witnessed this crime,” according to the Itar-Tass news agency.
Starovoitova was one of the most prominent victims of violence in post-Soviet Russia. Her death has served as a rallying point for the country’s liberals and prompted calls for a crackdown on lawlessness.
Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov, promising to fight fire with fire, said Saturday that violent criminals should die.
President Boris N. Yeltsin imposed a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in 1996.
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