A couple of hours ago, Deputy Gennady Gudkov ceased to be Deputy Gennady Gudkov and became simply Gennady Gudkov.
The United Russia party decided to throw Gudkov out of the State Duma and did exactly that. Whether you like Gudkov or not, one thing cannot be denied: Gudkov was made a deputy by the residents of Moscow, who voted for one of the A Just Russia party lists that he headed:
According to official figures, this list received: Moscow — Kuntsevskaya: 48,552 people (10.88%) Moscow — Tsaritsynskaya: 49,593 people (10.54%) Moscow — Tsentralnaya: 53,239 people (12.34%) Moscow — Cheryomushkinskaya: 57,676 people (13.52%) Total: 209,060 people
That's exactly how it is. 209,060 people said: Gudkov will represent us in the State Duma. And United Russia replied: no, he will not represent you; we are stripping him of his seat. Without a trial. Just by its own decision. How wonderful. United Russia, with its stolen mandates (especially from those same Muscovites), with half its deputies having bought their seats in the State Duma, with deputies who even formally run commercial enterprises, has found a brilliant method of political struggle. It simply expels deputies from other factions from the Duma by its own decision. This is the ultimate absurdity of Russia as a state governed by the rule of law. Our belief that deputies are elected by the people, and that a deputy can be stripped of that status only through a complex procedure and court rulings proving some terrible wrongdoing, has turned out to be false. A deputy elected by the people can simply be removed because United Russia is more powerful than any people. It has the right to do anything. And the 209,060 citizens of the Russian Federation have only the right to keep quiet and watch the zombie box (a slang term for television), where they will be told what's what. Tomorrow, those who believe they have rights too are gathering at Pushkin Square from 1 p.m.. They simply do, that's all. And no United Russia can cross them out like items on a shopping list.