Lev Shlosberg Sentenced to 11 Years as Russia Bars Opposition Party Yabloko from Election

A Pskov city court sentenced Lev Shlosberg, 63, to 11 years and one month in a penal colony for “discrediting” the Russian armed forces and “spreading false information” about them. The charges stemmed from comments he made on social media and a televised debate in which he called for an immediate ceasefire. Prosecutors had asked for 12 years and one month. Shlosberg rejected the accusations, describing the trial as a politically motivated “imitation of an investigation.”

The Jerusalem Post

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the state has enacted laws imposing severe penalties on anyone who “discredits” the military or disseminates “false information” about the war. Yabloko, the only registered party openly opposing the invasion, faced a Supreme Court ruling on August 10 that removed it from the ballot for the 18-20 September parliamentary election, a decision upheld on the day of Shlosberg’s sentencing.

BBC News

During his closing remarks, Shlosberg cited independent monitoring that recorded at least 239,354 Russian military deaths, while an estimate based on excess mortality among Russian men placed the true toll at more than 350,000. He warned that the eventual public accounting of the death count would cause the nation to “shudder.”

The Jerusalem Post

Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov said the party would appeal the Supreme Court’s exclusion and consider taking the case to the Constitutional Court. Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia director Marie Struthers condemned the prosecution as retaliation for exercising freedom of expression. The Russian Supreme Court justified the ban on Yabloko by alleging undeclared funding, campaign-spending violations, and alleged support for the “international LGBT movement,” which it classifies as extremist.

CNN

Human-rights groups called the verdict an “arbitrary prosecution” aimed at silencing anti-war voices. Amnesty International urged Shlosberg’s immediate release and the repeal of legislation criminalizing peaceful anti-war expression. Opposition figure Grigory Yavlinsky labeled the court’s actions a “serious, deepening crisis” in Russia’s political system.

BBC News

Independent outlets such as Mediazona and the BBC Russian service provide differing casualty estimates—239,354 confirmed deaths versus an extrapolated figure exceeding 350,000. Russian authorities have not published up-to-date official casualty numbers, leaving the true human cost unverified.

The Jerusalem Post

Yabloko announced plans to lodge a complaint with the Presidium of the Supreme Court and to explore a petition to the Constitutional Court. Shlosberg’s legal team is preparing an appeal of the 11-year sentence. The 18-20 September parliamentary election will proceed without Yabloko on the ballot, while the broader crackdown on dissent is expected to continue throughout the campaign period.

CNN

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

CNN

• “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

CNN