The ex-head of the city of Kotlas in the Arkhangelsk region and a former member of United Russia Andrei Bralnin committed suicide in SIZO-3 in Velsk on February 23. This is reported by the regional edition "29.ru".
The press service of the UFSIN told the publication that Bralnin committed suicide; doctors from the ambulance brigade carried out rehabilitation measures, but "they did not give a positive result." The report said that no violent signs were found, investigators will establish the details.
Bralnin headed Kotlas since September 2013, in February 2021 he resigned, he attributed the reason to the transfer to work in the government of the Arkhangelsk region. In March, FSB officers detained him in Moscow on suspicion of taking bribes and abuse of office. After his resignation, the chief architect of the city and the entrepreneur-builder were also detained in Kotlas, and in November 2021 a criminal case was opened against the entrepreneur, who, according to him, gave Bralnin a bribe of 500 thousand rubles.
In January 2022, the case of the ex-head of the city was taken to court, investigators reported that they had identified 17 episodes of bribery. Bralnin took money from entrepreneurs or representatives of firms for patronage in the construction industry. In October 2022, Bralnin was again detained, but already in Sochi, from where he tried to fly away from Russia, in December he was transferred to a pre-trial detention center in the Arkhangelsk region. Against the former United Russia party, another case was opened – about the use of violence against a representative of the authorities.