NEWSLINK: Why I Lost My Right To Speak in the Duma
Why I Lost My Right To Speak in the Duma – Ilya Ponomaryov- Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 1, 2012 – click here to read full text of original article
Ilya Ponomaryov is a State Duma deputy with A Just Russia.
Ilya Ponomaryov writes in his Moscow Times op-ed about being banned from speaking in the Russian State Duma for a month, after railing against corruption from the podium.
Also touching upon the ouster of Gennady Gudkov and concerns over the validity of last December’s elections, Ponomaryov speaks of a parliamentary crisis:
Ever since Gennady Gudkov was illegally stripped of his mandate as a State Duma deputy, an interesting period began in the parliament. Gudkov’s ouster on Sept. 14 marked the serious escalation of a parliamentary crisis that began in December when Duma election results were falsified in favor of United Russia.
Duma Deputy Dmitry Gudkov and I came under heavy pressure immediately following the publication this month of our “golden pretzel” articles, which detail what we believe to be illegal businesses run by various deputies. But United Russia’s resentment of me dates back to this summer, when I stood at the Duma podium and said: “Crooks and thieves, don’t pass the new libel law!”
Ponomaryov indicates he has been barred from speaking on the Duma floor from Oct. 16 to Nov. 16, 2012, in retaliation by personages who themselves are beset by ethical issues:
Although the heat died down after [his afore-quoted speech], the golden pretzel articles rekindled United Russia’s animosity. The Duma ethics commission issued a recommendation against me that was signed by 40 members of United Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party, a number of whom were named in the articles. They include Alexei Knyshov, whose company is building the M4 highway and who has been actively lobbying the Duma to introduce toll roads, and Yelena Nikolayeva, who I believe has produced forged documents to advance her personal interests. Deputy Alexei Mitrofanov, who once belonged to my Just Russia party but now sides with United Russia, has been named the head of a new Duma committee to oversee mass media, despite being under suspicion of taking bribes.
And what could be expected when the initiative against me was reviewed by ethics committee head Vladimir Pekhtin, who purchased land that he failed to declare as income and that stands in the path of a proposed highway, enabling him to sell it to the government for no less than 100 million rubles ($3.2 million)?
… The most revealing part of these events is that the people who apparently thought I was referring to them when I spoke of “crooks and thieves” are the very ones who signed the motion against me.
Ponomaryov characterizes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s current term as following a “divide and conquer” strategy, and predicts that Putin will escalate a Parliamentary crisis, whereby “[a]ccording to [Putin’s] thinking, ‘cleansing’ the parliament of unwanted elements will only strengthen his hold on power.