The State Duma voted on depriving the opposition deputy Gennady Gudkov of his mandate on Friday.
The results of the vote had 291 deputies for removing Gudkov's mandate and 153 against, the secret ballot showed.

"I am embarrassed for the authorities, for the country which has seen everything. I do not need this mandate, I am ready to leave, but I will return to build a new Russia, one which people will be proud of. This will be vey soon," Gudkov said in his last statement in front of State Duma deputies.

The Duma session over Gudkov's issue lasted for about one hour and deputies from different parties and factions were able to speak.
Gennady Gudkov was attacked by officials for allegedly owning a business (deputies in Russia are not allowed to be businessmen). Gudkov, however, claims that propaganda against him was started after he participated in protest rallies in Moscow earlier this year.

During the Friday Duma session the deputy head of Russia's Investigative Committee, Elena Leonenko, said that while taking away arms from the private security company which belongs to Gudkov's wife, the former deputy threatened to gather a crowd of protesting people near the Interior Ministry office.
Another state Duma deputy, Deputy Prosecutor General, Vladimir Malinvskiy, claimed that Gudkov violated anti-corruption legislation.

Gennady Gudkov is an MP from the opposition party "Just Russia." When the protest movement broke out in Moscow last December, he took part in a series of rallies.

Shortly afterwards, some undiscovered property reportedly belonging to Gudkov was found in Bulgaria (deputies in Russia are not allowed to have property in other countries), he also was accused of conducting illegal business, his family security company was deprived of its license for arms, and so on. But the authorities could not start a criminal case against Gudkov because he had MP immunity. From now on, Gudkov can be prosecuted as he no longer has deputy status.