Russia jails anti-war politician for 11 years in widening election crackdown
By Mark Trevelyan
LONDON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - A senior member of Russia’s liberal Yabloko party was sentenced on Monday to 11 years and one month in a penal colony for publicly condemning the war in Ukraine, the latest step in a widening crackdown on dissent before next month’s parliamentary election.
Lev Shlosberg, the party’s deputy chairman, was found guilty of discrediting Russia’s armed forces and spreading false information about the military. In a closing statement to the court in the western city of Pskov on Friday, he rejected the charges, said he was the victim of a political trial and again demanded an immediate ceasefire in the four-and-a-half-year war, describing it as “a catastrophe for Russia.”
The sentence came a week after Russia’s Supreme Court excluded Yabloko from next month’s parliamentary election, and the same court on Monday turned down an appeal against that decision. Yabloko is the only registered party that calls for ending the war, and even a small anti-war vote could have embarrassed the Kremlin.
In a closing speech that he refused to confine to the details of his case, Shlosberg delivered a scathing indictment of the invasion. According to a transcript published by independent outlet Mediazona, he said: “The lives of countless thousands of people have been cut short during this time. Sooner or later, the precise and complete death toll — with names included — will be made public, and the entire nation will shudder at this list of martyrs.”
“Today, cemeteries in our country, including military ones, are growing far more rapidly than maternity wards, kindergartens, and schools,” he added.
Mediazona and the BBC Russian service have recorded the names of at least 239,354 Russian service members killed in the war, based on publicly available records. Using estate records to calculate excess mortality among Russian men, they estimate the true death toll at more than 350,000. Neither Russia nor Ukraine publishes up-to-date casualty figures.
Moscow says its forces are fighting to counter security threats from NATO and Ukraine and to protect the rights of Russian speakers in Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies reject that as a false premise for the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two.
Tried Under Post-Invasion Censorship Laws
Shlosberg was prosecuted under legislation adopted shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The laws impose lengthy prison terms for “discrediting” the armed forces or deliberately spreading false information about the war.
Public anti-war speech has been all but driven out of state media. But defendants with little chance of acquittal have sometimes turned their trials into defiance. Shlosberg follows human rights campaigner Oleg Orlov and the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, both of whom spoke from the dock against what they described as tyranny and repression. Their remarks are not covered by state television, yet they can be read online through virtual private networks that bypass Russia’s internet restrictions.
Mediazona said the judge repeatedly interrupted Shlosberg’s closing speech and urged him to stick to the facts of the case. He insisted on his right to continue. “A single person is imprisoned, yet fear seeps into the hearts of millions,” he said.
Shlosberg was first detained in June of last year after he described the war in Ukraine as a game of “bloody chess” during a video debate. Prosecutors later added a charge of spreading fake news about the war, linked to a repost on his Telegram channel.
Monday’s verdict followed the conviction in June of Maxim Kruglov, another deputy leader of Yabloko, who was sentenced to seven years for spreading lies about the army.
The back-to-back sentences are likely to deepen the isolation of what remains of Russia’s organized opposition. They also make clear that the authorities are willing to go after prominent critics whose actions attract attention outside the country, even if their audience inside Russia is limited.