Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed that a suspect in the shooting of pro-Russian politician Oleg Tsaryov was arrested and later confessed, the Russian state-run news agency TASS reported on Oct. 31.
According to the report, the suspect is a 46-year-old resident of Yalta, occupied Crimea, and was allegedly involved in the plot to kill Tsaryov at the direction of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU).
The individual confessed both to the attempted murder and to the collaboration with the SBU, the FSB claimed, adding that an investigation had located material evidence.
Russia has an ongoing track record of extracting confessions under duress.
There is no way to independently verify this information. Russia does not provide transparent access to its legal system, and international human rights organizations have long detailed rampant abuse in prisons, as well as the use of torture to coerce confessions.
Tsaryov was reportedly shot in occupied Crimea in the early hours of Oct. 27 and is now in a hospital in serious condition.
He is a Dnipro-born businessman and former lawmaker for the former pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's Party of the Regions.
Following the EuroMaidan Revolution, he nominated himself as a candidate for the 2014 presidential elections but later withdrew his candidacy, claiming his safety was at risk.
Tsaryov went on to serve as an official of Russia's illegitimate proxies in Ukraine's Donbas region.
Unnamed sources told Ukrainska Pravda on Oct. 27 that the SBU was involved in Tsaryov's shooting. Kyiv didn't officially comment on the incident.
Oleg Sukhov
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