MOSCOW, September 17 - RAPSI. A Just Russia party members Alexei Chepa, Oleg Mikheyev and Sergei Petrov have retracted their signatures from a request by a parliamentary coalition to the Constitutional Court for a review of the constitutionality of the lower house decision to strip Gennady Gudkov of his political power, RIA Novosti reported.

116 deputies - 58 from each party, including faction leaders Sergei Mironov (A Just Russia) and Gennady Zyuganov (The Communist Party) - signed the application to the Constitutional Court concerning Gudkov.

The court has registered the request. But since Gudkov has already been stripped of his Duma seat, this attempt is unlikely to be of any avail. It remains unknown whether this was the reason why Chepa and Petrov retracted their signatures.

But those from the Communist Party who had signed the application were very surprised.

"As far as I know, Chepa is a serious businessman. In his declaration, he mentioned he had founded about 20 firms ... Today MPs run a great risk by standing up for Gudkov. They risk their business," Communist Party deputy Vadim Solovyov said to Izvestia daily.

He believes this was why the deputies retracted their signatures.

Previously Alexei Chepa and Sergei Petrov, as well as A Just Russia deputy Oleg Mikheyev refused to vote on Gennady Gudkov's mandate.

On Friday, the State Duma stripped Gudkov of his political power after the investigative authorities accused him of engaging in commercial activities - a violation of the law on lawmaker status. Gudkov said he is determined to implement all of the unfinished legislative initiatives he proposed in the State Duma via his colleagues.

He added that his address to the Supreme Court will be made on Monday, September 17. Gudkov said he will not leave the country, and he is not scared of a possible criminal case against him.

Last Monday the State Duma Commission for Control over the Credibility of State Deputies' Incomes and Expenses confirmed that Gudkov is engaged in business activities.

After looking into the material provided by the Investigative Committee, the commission concluded that there is sufficient information regarding Gudkov's breach of State Duma deputy legislation and grounds to strip him of his authority. According to the current Russian legislation, deputies are not permitted to be involved in business.

Previously, Alexander Shchukin, the head of the Investigative Committee's Investigative Department, said Gudkov was involved in managing a construction company in Bulgaria.

In June, it was revealed that investigators were carrying out an inspection upon the application of Bulgarian citizen Ivaylo Zartov on Gudkov's purported investments in a Bulgarian firm and his alleged tax evasion in Russia. Gudkov said Zartov had previous convictions in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria and was just trying to settle accounts with him.

Additionally, the Interior Ministry looked into the security businesses owned by the Gudkov family and found that a number of violations have been committed there as well.

Gudkov believes the investigations were connected with his status in the political opposition.

As most seats are held by United Russia party members, Gudkov had sent letters to 50 United Russia deputies, asking them to vote against stripping him of his mandate.