Gennady Tsypkalov, a former top official in the breakaway republic of Lugansk, was found hanged in his cell in Lugansk city, according to Russian language news account.
Tsypkalov once headed the Lugansk Council of Ministers, and was a close adviser to Lugansk president Igor Plotnitsky.
Tsypkalov and several others had been detained by the Lugansk prosecutor last week for their alleged role in a planned coup d'tat, according to a new report in novorosinform.org.
Among the coup participants were Vitaly Kiselev and Alexei Karjakin. According to a press release by the Lugansk prosecutor's office, the three accused had been holding secret meetings since the very start of the republic. Those plans included murdering top officials and replacing them with coup participants.
The news release goes on to accuse unidentified un-indicted co-conspirators of seeking to eliminate the three men. The three had been ordered into preventative detention after appearing in a Lugansk court last week.
Among the other crimes detailed in the press release was smuggling, which is an activity that nearly every top official in both Donetsk and Lugansk has been linked to, including Plotnitsky.
Tsypkalov was found hanged in an administrative building Friday evening. It is apparent from the story the other two detainees are still alive, but being held.