The Russian State Duma on Friday ruled to bar Ilya Ponomaryov from speaking in the chamber for a month for “publicly using crude, offensive expressions that damaged the dignity and honor of other State Duma deputies and other people.”

Ponomaryov will be banned from taking part in plenary sessions from October 16 to November 16.

During a discussion on July 13, the A Just Russia deputy used the phrase “crooks and thieves” which is widely used by the opposition in their criticism of the United Russia party.

State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin expressed his disappointment that Ponomaryov could not summon up “the courage to apologize to his colleagues.”