Press Release, 22.06.2026

Photo: Lev Shlosberg / Photo by Pskov Yabloko

Today, 22 June, the substantive hearing of the consolidated criminal case against Yabloko Deputy Chairman Lev Shlosberg began at Pskov City Court. The politician attended the hearing in person. At the outset, lawyer Vera Kovalchuk filed a motion to dismiss the criminal case under Article 207.3 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (the so-called “army fakes” provision) on the grounds that no criminal event had taken place, Pskov Yabloko reports.

The lawyer cited a review of selected issues of judicial practice approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on 21 April 2020, in which the court had issued important clarifications on the subject of “fakes”. Vera Kovalchuk drew the court’s attention to the fact that the publication attributed to Lev Shlosberg had been made on 25 February 2022, while the relevant article was not added to the Criminal Code until 4 March. In the Supreme Court’s view, the dissemination of information is deemed complete at the moment of publication, and only an act that was criminal at the time it was committed can be treated as a crime, and, therefore, the lawyer argued, the very event of a crime was absent.

The prosecution took the view that the motion to dismiss had been filed prematurely, and that the evidence needed to be examined. A judge of Pskov City Court dismissed the motion on the same grounds.

Vera Kovalchuk then filed a further motion — for the case to be returned to the prosecution. She explained that the indictment contained defects that could not be remedied at the stage of the judicial investigation, and that the wording of the charges had changed in the course of the proceedings.

Moreover, she argued, the preliminary investigation had been conducted by an unauthorised person: an investigator from the Ministry of Internal Affairs had no authority to investigate the case, as it fell within the jurisdiction of the Investigative Committee.

Vera Kovalchuk explained that an officer of the Centre for Countering Extremism had initially referred the materials to the Investigative Committee, but the Committee found no grounds to open a case. In the lawyer’s view, this may indicate that Lev Shlosberg’s prosecution was politically motivated, as the Ministry of Internal Affairs has closer ties to regional authorities.

She further clarified that the decision to open the case should have been taken by the Investigative Committee alone. This means that Deputy Prosecutor, who had decided to refer the case for investigation to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, had acted unlawfully.

“The prosecution cannot violate federal law. These actions are unlawful; the prosecution had 24 hours to annul the unlawful decision to open the case. […] Let the prosecution sort out what its own officials allowed to happen,” Lev Shlosberg commented on the defence’s position.

The prosecution requested a recess to coordinate its position, but after twenty minutes stated that this had not been sufficient and asked for the hearing to be adjourned to another day.

The judge ordered the hearing to be adjourned.

The proceedings will resume on 2 July at 10.00.

It should be noted that Yabloko Deputy Chairman Lev Shlosberg has been held in a pre-trial detention facility since 5 December 2025. On 3 December, a third criminal case was opened against him — under Article 207.3 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (the so-called “army fakes” provision) — in connection with a repost made to his Telegram channel in February 2022. The relevant article was not added to the Criminal Code until March 2022. Lev Shlosberg has stated that the date of the “offence” attributed to him in the materials of the third criminal case had been falsified.

On 8 December 2025, the maximum permissible period of house arrest — six months — expired under the second criminal case, which concerned the “repeated discrediting of the army” and had been opened in connection with the publication on the social network Odnoklassniki of a recording of a debate between Lev Shlosberg and historian Yuri Pivavarov on the Zhivoi Gvozd channel, in which the Yabloko Deputy Chairman had argued for the need for an immediate ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine — a recording he had not himself posted to the social network. The second and third cases were subsequently consolidated. The politician has not admitted guilt on any count.

On 27 May, a judge of Pskov City Court extended Lev Shlosberg’s remand detention by six months, until 21 November. The ruling was upheld on appeal on 5 June.