The leader of St Petersburg's Christian Democrats was killed in a car crash that assistants say was planned.
Duma deputy Vitaly Savitsky, head of the Christian Democratic Party-Christian Russia (CDP-CR), was being driven home on the evening of December 9 from a live pre-election radio interview when his car made a sudden U-turn and collided with a Mercedes-Benz at the corner of Sverdlovskaya Embankment and Arsenalnaya Ulitsa.
Mr Savitsky, 40, was killed instantly. His assistant was seriously injured, while the driver received bruises. Both were taken to the military academy hospital for treatment.
According to the city's traffic police, Mr Savitsky's driver, Serafim Atkin had seriously violated traffic regulations when he made two U-turns at a wrong place.
The Mercedes, driven by Alexander Tkachenko, reportedly belonged to Baltic Escort.
Another assistant, Alexei Alexeyev, said he appeared at the scene of the accident immediately and claimed it had been planned.
Mr Alexeyev said evidence showed that the driver did not lose control of the car, but intentionally made a U-turn to cause the collision.
"A driver with 20 years of experience could not make such silly mistakes," he said. "He had no reason to make any turn."
Police are still investigating the case. Mr Savitsky was buried last Tuesday. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Officials at the CDP-CR headquarters said they believed Mr Savitsky was betrayed by his political foes.
One official, who did not want to be named, said he suspected Mr Savitsky's death was caused by election rows.
He said Mr Savitsky was the most popular figure among the 19 contenders in his area which included Peterhof, Krasnoye Selo and Lomonosov.
About a week before his death, Mr Savitsky complained of "acts of prejudice" against him and his party from other candidates.
Though he declined to explain the nature of the acts, he insisted the incidents were "too many to remember."
In October, the CDP-CR offices were looted and computer data and several confidential documents were taken.
Mr Savitsky, famous for his legislative war against foreign religious sects, did not attribute what he called prejudice to any of the sects, but to his rival parties which he preferred not to mention.
However, Georgy Trubnikov, a CDP-CR Duma candidate who likened the Mormon Church and the Unification Church with the notorious Aum Shinri Kyo sect, ruled out the possibility of the churches' involvement in any malicious incidents.
Assistants said Mr Savitsky fought for what he called "limitation of pseudo-religious sects," initiated freedom of conscience and worship in the Russian army, and initiated a law on the rights of war veterans and Leningrad Siege survivors in his three years as a duma deputy.
Mr Savitsky had said that despite its being a solely Christian-oriented party, the CDP-CR enjoyed full support from the city's other religious denominations, and ultimately considered itself the protector of their interests.
There were 11 other CDP-CR candidates in St Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast constituencies who contested for Duma seats in Sunday's election.