Press Release, 21.04.2026

A judge of the Petrozavodsk City Court has just handed down a decision imposing a fine on Emilia Slabunova, an Honoured Teacher of Russia, former Chair of Yabloko, and leader of the party’s faction in the Legislative Assembly of Karelia. Slabunova has been fined 1,000 roubles under the article on “displaying extremist symbols” (Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) in connection with a post allegedly published on 20 August 2020 in her Telegram channel. However, no posts from that date exist in Emilia Slabunova’s channel; but the case materials include a screenshot of a post purportedly published on 20.08.2020.

Emilia Slabunova reported that the court hearing lasted around three hours. During that time, the court examined two witnesses, law enforcement officers — one from the Interior Ministry’s Centre “E” (the department combatting extremism) — whose accounts contradicted each other. One witness told the court that on 15 April a certain Ivan Poteryaev had approached the police, reporting that he had read back through Emilia Slabunova’s Telegram channel as far as 2020 and had found what he considered to be signs of extremist material. The second witness told the court that the informant had not come alone but had brought a friend.

The informant himself — Ivan Poteryaev, an employee of the Pamyat funeral company and an activist of the Russian Community nationalist organisation — also appeared in court and stated that he had approached the police alone and had brought no friends with him.

Slabunova’s interests in court were represented by lawyer Natalia Chernova and by Olgа Tuzhikova, a lawyer and Yabloko deputy on Petrozavodsk City Council. During the hearing, the defence sought to have an expert brought into the proceedings who could assess whether the screenshot that served as the “grounds” for initiating the administrative case was genuine. The court refused the application.

It should be noted that in the early morning of 21 April, Emilia Slabunova was detained outside her home on her way to work, she had been setting out on a trip to the villages and rural settlements of the Pitkyaranta Municipal District of the Republic of Karelia, where residents were expecting her, hoping that Yabloko deputies would help them resolve problems with access to drinking water and gas supply.

Slabunova links the authorities’ persecution of her to the party’s preparations for elections to the State Duma and the Legislative Assembly of Karelia in autumn 2026, as well as to Yabloko’s strong performance in the region.

Yabloko Chair Nikolai Rybakov stresses that, on the eve of the elections, the authorities are deliberately driving division in society with their own hands:

“Authorities who haul an Honoured Teacher into court and bar an elected representative from standing in elections on the strength of fabricated testimony from an informant are showing their fear and helplessness on the eve of the State Duma election campaign. Only political bankrupts fear competition. Emilia Slabunova’s work has always been directed at protecting the interests and welfare of Karelia’s residents, and at preserving the historical truth and natural heritage of the region. That is precisely why they fear Emilia Slabunova — her voice, her truth about poverty in Karelia and the lawlessness of officials. The authorities are not merely denying voters a choice; they are creating division in society with their own hands and laying the ground for political upheaval.”

It should be noted that today it emerged that court hearings are forthcoming in the administrative cases — including the one for the alleged “display of extremist symbols” — against Alexander Shishlov, Coordinator of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee and leader of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg, on 24 and 30 April. Earlier, under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation, fines were imposed on Legislative Assembly deputy Olga Shtannikova and on party Chair Nikolai Rybakov, leader of Pskov Yabloko and regional Legislative Assembly deputy Artur Gaiduk, and Yelena Ivanova, Deputy Chair of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko.

The fines imposed on Yabloko members under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences are nominal; however, a court ruling of this kind bars those on whom it is imposed from standing in elections for one year after it enters into force. It is clear to Yabloko that what is taking place has nothing to do with “combating extremism”, and is solely the execution of a political order to remove the party’s leaders from the forthcoming 2026 federal parliamentary and regional elections.