Russian court upholds 11-year prison sentence for opposition politician Lev Shlosberg

The Pskov Regional Court has upheld an 11-year-and-one-month prison sentence for Lev Shlosberg, deputy chair of Russia’s Yabloko party. The case centres on his criticism of the war in Ukraine and illustrates the severe penalties Russian courts can impose for speech about the military.

The “discrediting” charge arose from a video of Shlosberg arguing that the war should end as soon as possible. A separate “false information” charge concerned a Telegram repost of a newspaper front page; Shlosberg said it predated the law used against him. During two days of appeal arguments, he spoke for nine hours and alleged numerous violations by the judge who sentenced him.