Russia’s prominent anti‑war politician Lev Shlosberg has been sentenced to 11 years and one month in a penal colony for discrediting the country’s armed forces and spreading false information about them.
Shlosberg, 63, condemned the verdict by a court in the city of Pskov, saying the only purpose was to punish a person for his political, public and civil position.
Yabloko, the liberal party of which he is deputy head, said it would appeal, a move that came minutes before Russia’s Supreme Court rejected the party’s application to participate in the September parliamentary elections.
Yabloko was the only registered party to oppose Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022, and since the war’s start all remaining opposition has been crushed by wartime censorship and harsh penalties.
The Pskov court found Shlosberg guilty of public actions aimed at discrediting the armed forces. The prosecution demanded 12 years and one month; the conviction carried 11 years and one month.
Shlosberg described the trial as an "imitation of an investigation" intended to achieve an illegal goal and urged a ceasefire and political dialogue.
Yabloko was struck from the ballots earlier this month over accusations that it publicly supports the "international LGBT movement," a claim the Supreme Court labels extremist, while a pro‑Kremlin nationalist party raised a copyright infringement claim.
All other parties competing in the September elections support the war, and independent election monitors report restrained oversight.
The sentence underscores the tightening of dissent, with press reports indicating only 10% of the opposition cast in these years have been punished; the Kremlin retains enough resources to shape forthcoming electoral outcomes.
