Russian Court Imposes 11-Year Prison Term on Opposition Lawmaker and Bars Yabloko from Duma Ballot

A regional court in Pskov convicted Lev Shlosberg, a 63-year-old deputy chairman of the liberal Yabloko party, of “discrediting” the Russian military and violating foreign-agent regulations. The court sentenced him to 11 years and one month in prison, marking his second trial in two years. The verdict follows a separate ruling by Russia’s Supreme Court that upheld an earlier decision to exclude Yabloko from the State Duma election ballot. The party’s appeal was denied, and supporters gathered outside the courthouse, where several dozen were detained.

PBS News Hour

Yabloko is the only officially registered party that has consistently opposed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022 and entered its fifth year. The party’s campaign slogans this election have called for a ceasefire, diplomacy, and the prevention of nuclear war. Its anti-war stance has drawn accusations from Kremlin-aligned parties of violating Russia’s territorial integrity, accusations Yabloko rejects.

PBS News Hour

Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov announced that the party will lodge a complaint with the Supreme Court’s Presidium and may appeal to the Constitutional Court, emphasizing the party’s continued fight for peace. Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia director, Marie Struthers, called the prosecution “arbitrary” and demanded Shlosberg’s immediate release and the repeal of laws criminalizing peaceful anti-war expression.

PBS News Hour

Human-rights groups have condemned the sentence as a repression of free speech. Amnesty International’s statement characterizes the case as a “blatant reprisal” for exercising the right to call for peace. Yabloko itself labeled the sentence “barbaric” and pledged to appeal the conviction while urging international attention to the plight of Russian political prisoners.

PBS News Hour

• “His arbitrary prosecution and sentencing are blatant reprisals for exercising his right to freedom of expression to call for peace," said Marie Struthers, the group's Eastern Europe and Central Asia director.” — Marie Struthers, the group's Eastern Europe and Central Asia director

PBS News Hour

• “We achieved the main thing: The whole world knows how many people in Russia want peace, want to live normally and to raise children under a peaceful sky in their country,” — Nikolai Rybakov, yabloko chairman

PBS News Hour