A Russian court has sentenced prominent opposition politician Lev Shlosberg to 11 years and one month in prison after convicting him of speaking out against the country’s war in Ukraine.
Shlosberg, 63, a senior member and deputy chairman of the Yabloko party, was convicted Monday in Pskov on charges including “discrediting” the Russian military and spreading “false information” about the armed forces.
The case centred on comments he made during a debate calling for an end to the war, as well as a post on his Telegram channel featuring a British tabloid front page showing a bloodied woman alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The headline read, “Her blood … his hands.”
Shlosberg has rejected the allegations, describing the charges as unfounded.
The sentence comes amid an intensifying crackdown on political dissent in Russia, particularly against critics of the war.
Shlosberg has also been designated a “foreign agent,” a classification that subjects individuals to additional government scrutiny.
It was his second trial in two years. He had been held in pretrial detention since December 2025 after being charged in the latest case.
In his final statement to the court on Friday, Shlosberg said Russia had spent three decades moving “a path from hopes for freedom to the almost complete destruction of human and civil rights and freedoms.”
He also said the war in Ukraine had “changed the lives of every Russian citizen without exception,” and predicted that once its true death toll becomes known, “the entire country will shudder.”
Yabloko condemned the ruling, describing Shlosberg’s sentence as a “barbaric sentence” for “love of the Motherland and calls for a ceasefire.”
The party said it would appeal the verdict.
Amnesty International also criticised the conviction, saying Shlosberg was being punished for exercising his right to free expression.
“His arbitrary prosecution and sentencing are blatant reprisals for exercising his right to freedom of expression to call for peace,” said Marie Struthers, Amnesty’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia director.
“The Russian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Lev Shlosberg and quash his conviction,” she added. “They must repeal legislation criminalizing peaceful anti-war expression, end the persecution of Yabloko members and supporters, and respect the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and political participation for all Russians.”
The court ruling against Shlosberg came on the same day Russia’s Supreme Court upheld a decision to exclude Yabloko from September’s parliamentary elections.
The party had initially been cleared by the Central Election Commission to contest the vote alongside 10 other parties.
However, the Motherland Party later challenged its participation, accusing Yabloko of campaign spending violations and other breaches.
Motherland also argued that Yabloko’s opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine amounted to support for violating the country’s territorial integrity.
Yabloko rejected the allegations, but the Supreme Court sided with Motherland.
Supporters of Yabloko gathered outside the court during Monday’s appeal hearing, with Russian media reporting that several dozen people were detained.
Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov said the party would continue challenging the decision, including through a possible appeal to the Constitutional Court.
“We achieved the main thing: The whole world knows how many people in Russia want peace, want to live normally and to raise children under a peaceful sky in their country,” Rybakov said.
Reacting to Shlosberg’s prison sentence, Rybakov added, “our feelings are with Lev and other political prisoners who have fought and are fighting for peace, for people to not die.”
