In brief
Lev Shlosberg, deputy head of the Yabloko party, was convicted by a court in Pskov on charges of discrediting the armed forces. The 63‑year‑old criticised the verdict as a politically motivated move and reaffirmed his call for a ceasefire. The sentence coincided with the Supreme Court’s rejection of Yabloko’s appeal to bar the party from the upcoming elections, underscoring the tightening of opposition freedoms during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Lev Shlosberg, a 63‑year‑old deputy head of the Yabloko opposition party, has been sentenced to 11 years and one month of imprisonment in a penal colony. The verdict was delivered by a court in Pskov, north‑western Russia, on charges of discrediting the country’s armed forces and spreading false information about them.
\Shlosberg rejected the accusations, asserting that the trial was a pre‑planned political show designed to punish his public and civil position. He called the procedure an imitation of a proper investigation aimed at achieving an illegal goal.
\The ruling was issued minutes before the Supreme Court rejected Yabloko’s appeal to overturn a ban that would exclude the party from the September parliamentary elections. Only Yabloko had openly opposed Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022.
\The sentence comes amid a period in which any visible dissent in Russia is suppressed by wartime censorship laws, with offenders facing heavy fines or lengthy prison terms. Since the invasion, remaining opposition voices against President Vladimir Putin have been steadily crushed.
\Yabloko has denounced the case as false and pledged to appeal the verdict. The party remains the only registered political group that stood firmly against the war in Ukraine.
\The latest polls show the ruling United Russia party at 32.1 percent, the lowest figure since May, yet the Kremlin is widely believed to have the resources to secure the desired outcome in the upcoming elections. Independent election watchdogs have had limited ability to monitor and challenge the electoral process.
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