Lev Shlosberg, a prominent Russian opposition figure and deputy head of the liberal Yabloko party, has been sentenced to 11 years and one month in a penal colony for allegedly discrediting Russia's armed forces and spreading false information about them.
The verdict was handed down by a court in Pskov, north-west Russia, following charges linked to Shlosberg's social media comments criticizing the military. The prosecution had sought a 12-year sentence.
Shlosberg, 63, denounced the ruling as politically motivated, asserting it was intended solely to punish his public and civil stance. During his closing statement, he called for a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and urged the initiation of political dialogue, though the judge frequently interrupted him.
His party, Yabloko, which openly opposed Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, condemned the sentence and announced plans to appeal. However, the party recently suffered a major blow when Russia's Supreme Court upheld a ban preventing Yabloko from contesting the September parliamentary elections.
The ban was justified by accusations that Yabloko supports the "international LGBT movement," labeled extremist by Russian authorities, alongside a copyright infringement claim from the pro-Kremlin Rodina party. Yabloko denies these allegations.
Since the invasion began, the Kremlin has intensified suppression of dissent, enforcing wartime censorship laws that impose heavy fines and lengthy jail terms for public criticism of the government or military.
All other parties participating in the upcoming election support the war effort. Despite a dip in popularity for the ruling United Russia party, independent election monitoring has been severely restricted, raising concerns about the fairness of the electoral process.
