Press Release, 4.12.2025

Photo: Nikolai Rybakov holds a placard “Freedom to Political Prisoners” / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Yabloko party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov has been found guilty of “displaying extremist symbols” and fined 1,500 roubles. Punishment under this article also entails a ban on standing in elections for one year if the court’s ruling comes into force.

Such s ruling was made by a judge at Vyborgsky District Court in St.Petersburg. Nikolai Rybakov’s defence team will appeal the decision at a court of higher instance – St.Petersburg City Court.

The Yabloko leader commented on the court’s decision:

“Friends, today the court has taken a political decision. They are trying to bar me from the upcoming State Duma elections. It is obvious that behind the legal formulations lies a desire by a group of officials to deny me participation in the election campaign. And most importantly, what is the formal pretext? [My expression of] condolences to the children and parents of a deceased person. It is precisely so that such absurd and immoral things do not happen in our country that I am standing in elections, offering people an alternative — peace, freedom and life without fear.

If I am faced with a choice between remaining human or standing as a candidate, then for me the answer is obvious. And even if the court ultimately disqualifies me personally from the elections, Yabloko will still take part in them — for the sake of our country’s future.

But in finding me ‘guilty’, the court is not removing me from the elections, it is removing all of you! It is trying to deprive you of your right to a vote, deprive you of your right to an alternative, and deprive you of your right to a future! This is not a personal matter of Nikolai Rybakov, this is our common concern, for each and every one of us,” Rybakov said.

As a reminder, the grounds for initiating administrative proceedings (Article 20.3 Part 1 of the Russian Administrative Offences Code) against Rybakov was a post expressing condolences following the death of Alexei Navalny on Nikolai Rybakov’s VKontakte social network page.

Rybakov’s colleagues and fellow party members — Ivan Bolshakov, member of the Yabloko’s Federal Political Committee, and Alexander Shishlov, leader of the Yabloko faction in St Petersburg’s Legislative Assembly — attended the court hearing.

Bolshakov commented on the court’s decision, stating that St Petersburg authorities had decided to outpace and surpass all other regions in the competition for the title of most repressive:

“An absurd situation has arisen where a district court is interfering in the federal political process and, at the behest of St.Petersburg authorities, is removing the leader of a federal party from parliamentary elections, denying him the opportunity to lead his party into the State Duma. The accusation against Nikolai Rybakov of displaying extremist symbols discredits the very idea of combating extremism, because Rybakov is one of the most law-abiding and peaceable politicians in the country, and Yabloko is a moderate centrist party committed exclusively to constitutional, parliamentary methods of political struggle,” Ivan Bolshakov stated.

Alexander Shishlov emphasised that Nikolai Rybakov heads a party that always acts lawfully and does not tolerate extremism:

“It is obvious that this administrative case is aimed not at countering extremism, but at preventing Nikolai Rybakov from participating in elections. The defence convincingly demonstrated the groundlessness of the accusation, however the defence’s arguments and motions were ignored by the judge. A similar case under Article 20.3 continues against St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly deputy Olga Shtannikova. The court decisions will be appealed,” Shishlov said.

Rybakov did not attend the court hearing and sent an explanation to the court in which he noted that publishing an obituary with a photograph of a deceased person accords with Russian spiritual, moral and universal human values and has no connection whatsoever to extremism.

Furthermore, he noted that no law or any other act classifies a photograph of Alexei Navalny as extremist material. This is confirmed by well-known official responses from the Ministry of Justice and the Main Directorate for Countering Extremism of Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs received in reply to lawyers’ enquiries.

During the court hearing, Nikolai Rybakov’s lawyer Boris Gruzd presented dozens of currently existing publications in state and quasi-state media outlets where publications featuring a photograph of Navalny had been posted, and this circumstance allowed every citizen in our country to believe that this did not violate any laws:

“The decision will be appealed. We believe that just decisions in such cases are still possible,” Gruzd stressed after the court’s ruling was announced.

It should be noted that on 27 November Kalininsky District Court in St.Petersburg found St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly deputy Olga Shtannikova from Yabloko guilty under the same article for a 2013 post on her VKontakte page concerning an anti-corruption investigation.