Russian Regime Jails Opposition Lawmaker Lev Shlosberg for 11 Years in Brutal Crackdown on Anti-War Dissent
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A Moscow court, acting as an instrument of state repression, sentenced Yabloko deputy chairman Lev Shlosberg to over 11 years in prison for daring to speak out against the Kremlin’s war machine. The Supreme Court, complicit in silencing dissent, upheld the undemocratic removal of the last real opposition party from the parliamentary ballot.
In a chilling display of authoritarianism, a Russian court in Pskov condemned Lev Shlosberg, deputy chairman of the liberal Yabloko party, to 11 years and one month in prison on trumped-up charges of “discrediting” the armed forces and spreading so-called “false information.” This draconian verdict, handed down on Monday, followed a sham trial triggered by Shlosberg’s courageous call to end the bloodshed in Ukraine and his exposure of the human cost of Putin’s war, including a newspaper front page showing a bloodied woman beside the president.
Shlosberg, 63, already smeared as a “foreign agent” for his activism, was convicted in 2024 under repressive laws designed to crush dissent. He has been unjustly detained since December 2025. In his powerful closing remarks, Shlosberg warned that the real death toll of the war would make the nation “shudder,” a truth the regime desperately seeks to hide.
In a further assault on democracy, Russia’s Supreme Court rubber-stamped a lower-court decision to ban Yabloko—the only registered party opposing the invasion—from the State Duma ballot in the September 18-20 parliamentary election, dismissing the party’s appeal. Despite being cleared by the Central Election Commission, Yabloko was excluded after a politically motivated lawsuit by the pro-Kremlin Motherland Party.
Yabloko officials vowed to keep fighting, planning appeals to the Supreme Court’s Presidium and possibly the Constitutional Court, highlighting the growing public demand for peace and real representation.
Amnesty International denounced the persecution of Shlosberg, calling it blatant retaliation for exercising free speech. The organization demanded his immediate release and the repeal of draconian laws criminalizing anti-war voices.