Press Release, 26.05.2026

Photo: Dmitry Rybakov at Petrozavodsk City Court, 26 May 2026 / Photo by Karelian Yabloko

On 26 May, Petrozavodsk City Court fined Dmitry Rybakov 1,000 roubles. Rybakov is a member of the Federal Bureau of the Yabloko party, Deputy Chairman of the party’s Green Russia Faction, a deputy and leader of the Yabloko faction on Petrozavodsk City Council, and a member of the Standing Committee on Healthcare, Environment and Social Development. He had been detained the previous day and charged with “displaying extremist symbols” under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences. The Interior Ministry disregarded information about the politician’s serious health problems, and he was in a temporary detention facility throughout the night.

Dmitry Rybakov’s case was heard by the same judge who had heard an analogous case involving the “displaying of extremist symbols” brought against Emilia Slabunova, a Yabloko deputy in the Karelian Legislative Assembly and a recipient of the title Honoured Teacher of Russia. The denunciation against Dmitry Rybakov was filed by activists of the nationalist organisation Russian Community — Ivan Poteryaev and Viktor Ivakhin — the same complainants who appear in Emilia Slabunova’s case.

Rybakov’s interests were represented by lawyer Natalia Chernova and Olga Tuzhikova, a lawyer and Yabloko deputy on Petrozavodsk City Council.

The grounds for the prosecution of Dmitry Rybakov were three posts from 2020 on VKontakte. These posts are not present on the politician’s page, and he has stated that the case materials were fabricated.

“This is a forgery, I said so immediately in court. I also filed a motion to recuse the judge, but it was refused,” Dmitry Rybakov said of the hearing. “Exactly the same people are involved in these proceedings as in Emilia Edgardovna’s case. This is an obvious political operation, and there is no doubt that everything taking place is a targeted campaign of pressure against Yabloko. In Karelia, which is currently in an absolute uproar over our prosecution, some kind of arrangement has apparently been reached with the nationalists, and I raised this in court as well: this so-called voluntary people’s militia in our region is involved in fabricating cases.”

The ruling of Petrozavodsk City Court will be appealed, Rybakov has stated.

It should also be noted that tomorrow, 27 May, the appeal hearing in the analogous case of Emilia Slabunova will take place in Petrozavodsk.

To date, nine members of the party have been prosecuted under the article on “displaying extremist symbols.” In addition to the Karelian cases involving Dmitry Rybakov and Emilia Slabunova, fines have been imposed on Yabloko members in St.Petersburg (Olga Shtannikova, Nikolai Rybakov and Alexander Shishlov), in Pskov (Artur Gaiduk and Tatyana Fyodorova), and in Veliky Novgorod (Yelena Ivanova and Anton Kostryukov).

The fines under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences are nominal; however, a finding of guilt under an “extremism” article makes it impossible for the individual concerned to stand in elections for a period of one year. It is clear to Yabloko that this form of serial prosecution is not a matter of “combating extremism” but serves exclusively to fulfil a political commission to bar the party’s leaders from the forthcoming federal and regional elections of 2026.