Russia: Peace activist Lev Chlosberg sentenced to eleven years in a penal colony

A court in Pskov on Monday found Lev Chlosberg guilty of "discrediting" the Russian armed forces and "spreading false information." The leader of the liberal Yabloko party, the only registered party to oppose the invasion of Ukraine, was sentenced to eleven years and one month in prison.

Lev Chlosberg, 63, vice-president of the Yabloko party, was sentenced Monday by a court in Pskov, in northwestern Russia. The charges against him stemmed from his social media posts criticizing the use of Russian armed forces in Ukraine. The prosecution had requested a sentence of 12 years and one month in prison; the sentence handed down was 11 years and one month in a penal colony.

From the dock, Chlosberg rejected all charges. In his closing argument, a transcript of which was published by the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, he called the trial a "sham investigation" designed to "achieve a manifestly illegal objective." He reiterated his call for a ceasefire and the opening of a "political dialogue" between Moscow and Kyiv, before being interrupted several times by the presiding judge.

After the verdict, Chlosberg stated that he had been convicted only for his "political, public, and civic stance." Iabloko announced his intention to appeal.

The ruling came just minutes before Russia's Supreme Court rejected the party's appeal against its exclusion from the parliamentary elections scheduled for September 18-20. Yabloko had been removed from the electoral rolls earlier in the month following a complaint from the pro-Kremlin nationalist Rodina party, which accused it of both alleged support for the "international LGBT movement"—designated as extremist by the Supreme Court—and copyright infringement. The party denies these accusations.

Yabloko was the only registered party to oppose the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022. The ten other parties participating in the election support the war. Since the beginning of the conflict, all opposition to Vladimir Putin, who has been in power for almost twenty-seven years, has been systematically stifled by wartime censorship laws, which expose violators to heavy fines or long prison sentences.

In terms of the election results, the ruling United Russia party, according to the state polling firm VCIOM, is polling at 32,1%, its lowest level since May. Independent observers, whose monitoring capabilities have been significantly reduced, nevertheless believe that the Kremlin has the means to steer the election results to its advantage.