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Prosecutors not to open case against former lawmaker Gennady Gudkov

Gudkov confirmed his intention to challenge, at the Supreme Court, the State Duma's decision to strip him of his lawmaker’s mandate

MOSCOW, November 1 (Itar-Tass) — The Prosecutor General's Office /PGO/ said it would not open a case against A Just Russia member Gennady Gudkov in connection with his illegal entrepreneurial activity, head of the legal service of the Communist Party Vadim Solovyov told Itar-Tass, referring to a letter from the PGO he had received.

Solovyov said he had recently placed an inquiry with the PGO over "the persecution of Communists and attacks on them. In this connection, I wrote that whenever a political order is issued against deputies, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee respond at once."

In an answer signed a deputy prosecutor general, the PGO stated that the case against Communist Party Member Vladimir Bessonov was under investigation. Bessonov had been stripped of lawmaker's immunity. As for Gudkov, the PGO refused to open proceedings against him twice because of a lack of corpus delicti in his actions: i.e. he had not committed any tax crimes nor had he engaged in illegal business.

Furthermore, the second decision /not to open criminal proceedings against Gudkov/ was made after the State Duma voted for taking the lawmaker's mandate from Gudkov," said Solovyov, who is a deputy chairman of the house committee for constitutional legislation and state development.

"When we were reviewing the Gudkov issue, they were threatening us with this criminal case saying some facts would be exposed. It appears that they had nothing on him."

When asked by Itar-Tass about Gudkov's being accused of the fact of entrepreneurship, Solovyov explained that "the lawmaker must not have a business, because if he runs one, it is illegal, and he can be held responsible for it."

"It turns out running a business was enough to strip him of his mandate, but when it came to opening criminal proceedings, it appeared Gudkov was not running business," he said.

There was no need to carry out an expert examination of this issue and put it up on the State Duma agenda. They should have shown some evidence of legal significance, not the copies with illegible signatures.

Gennady Gudkov called the report on the PGO's decision not to open a criminal case against him "good news."

He acknowledged that he had known about this decision. "Making it public is an indication that the authorities are easing political reprisals," he stated.

Gudkov confirmed his intention to challenge, at the Supreme Court, the State Duma's decision to strip him of his lawmaker’s mandate. "The statement of claim is ready, but we'll only file it after November 20, after the first session of the Constitution Court over the inquiry by 116 deputies from A Just Russia and the Communist Party," he said.

The former lawmaker said if he ever returned to the State Duma, it would be by court ruling. He reminded about the Central Election Commission's explanations that Gudkov "may return to the State Duma if A Just Russia faction asks someone to give up his mandate for Gudkov."

"The law does not prohibit it. But getting back at any cost is not my objective. Nobody has to give up his mandate for my sake. We'll wait for court rulings," Gudkov said.