Russia's leading anti-war politician Lev Shlosberg has been sentenced to 11 years and one month in prison for “discrediting” the country's armed forces and “spreading false information” about them. Shlosberg, 63, condemned the court's ruling in the city of Pskov, saying that the court's only duty was to “punish a person because of his political, public and civil position”. His liberal political party, Yabloko, of which he is deputy chairman, said he would appeal.

Illustration. This ruling came just minutes before Russia's Supreme Court rejected Yabloko's Appeal against a ban on taking part in September's parliamentary elections. Yabloko is the only party registered to oppose Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022.

Since the invasion began, all remaining opposition in Russia to President Vladimir Putin - who has been in power for almost 27 years - has been crushed. Illustration. Public displays of dissent were suppressed by wartime censorship laws and could trigger large fines or long prison terms.

Shlosberg was found guilty of “public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the RussianFederation's armed forces.” The prosecutor demanded a sentence of 12 years and one month in prison. Criminal charges were filed following Shlosberg's comments published on social media.

Illustration. In his closing speech, Shlosberg again rejected all the accusations, describing the trial as an “imitation of an investigation” to “achieve clearly illegal goals,” according to a transcript published by the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. The opposition politician also repeated his call for a ceasefire in theRussia-Ukraine war and the start of a “political dialogue”.

Yabloko was removed from the ballot earlier this month due to accusations that the party openly supported the "international LGBT movement", which the Supreme Court Russia designated as extremist. The suit filed by the pro-Kremlin nationalist party Rodina also states that Yabloko is guilty of copyright infringement. Ten other parties that took part in the elections on 18-20 September supported the war in Ukraine.

The ruling Russia's United Party fell to 32.1% at the start of this month - the lowest figure since May, according to Russia's state-owned pollster, VCIOM.