Deputies of the Moscow City Duma voted to revoke the mandate of their colleague Evgeny Stupin. There were 28 people “for”, 5 “against”, the deputy himself said.
Stupin was charged with 10 absences from Moscow City Duma meetings for unexcused reasons, writes Sota. The deputy is not in Russia, and he was not allowed to connect to the meetings remotely, citing technical interference. On May 6, Stupin was refused to be included in the meeting of the commission that discussed the deprivation of his mandate, the deputy said.
Stupin was elected to the Moscow City Duma in 2019 from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. His candidacy was recommended by Alexei Navalny’s “Smart Voting” project. In the spring of 2023, the deputy was expelled from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation for an open letter against the war and support for oppositionist Ilya Yashin.
In June 2023, the Ministry of Justice recognized Stupin as a “foreign agent.” The reasons for his inclusion in the list were the dissemination of “inaccurate information about the decisions taken by public authorities and the policies they pursue” and “repeated public statements” against the war. In September of the same year, the deputy announced that he had left Russia on a “long-term business trip” due to threats of criminal charges.
In July 2021, the Ministry of Justice demanded that Stupin be deprived of his lawyer status due to his participation in the rally on January 23 in support of Navalny, for which he was fined 20 thousand rubles (Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code). The Chamber of Lawyers rejected the Ministry of Justice's proposal. After the arrest of Navalny’s defenders, Stupin, together with other lawyers, called on his colleagues to go on strike.
On May 6, the State Duma adopted a bill prohibiting participants in the register of “foreign agents” from being deputies and senators at all levels. After Stupin was deprived of his mandate, two deputies recognized as “foreign agents” remained in the Moscow City Duma — Daria Besedina and Mikhail Timonov.