Rail Bikmukhamedov committed suicide on December 13 by hanging himself on a tree. He earlier wrote home on various occasions about hazing in his unit.
"According to preliminary investigation, the victim has been beaten up in a hazing attack," a spokesman for the military prosecutors' office said. "The main suspect in the case is Bikmukhamedov's fellow soldier, who served in the army for more than a year."
The suspect, whose identity has not been revealed in the interest of the ongoing investigation, has allegedly confessed his involvement in the hazing attack.
The Defense Ministry earlier reported that 22 non-combat deaths in the army were caused by abuse of rank and hazing attacks since the beginning of 2006.
The elevated number of casualties and hazing incidents became high-profile issues in the Armed Forces this year following a scandal involving Private Andrei Sychyov, who had both legs amputated after allegedly being beaten and tortured during the New Year's holidays in his Army unit in the south Urals city of Chelyabinsk.
