Press Release, 13.08.2025

Photo: Pskov Yabloko candidates in the 2023 elections Nikolai Barkhatov and Lyudmila Kochneva, and lawyer Vitaly Isakov / Photo by the regional branch of Yabloko

On 12 August, Opochka District Court and Pushkinogorsk District Court satisfied Pskov Yabloko’s lawsuits against the Russian Ministry of Finance for compensation for cancelling registration of the Yabloko’s unified lists in the 2023 municipal elections. The unlawfulness of removing Yabloko’s lists and the right of the party to receive damage compensation was recognised by the Constitutional Court on 18 March.

An Opochka Court judge awarded Pskov Yabloko 218,439 roubles compensation; of this, 118,439 roubles were electoral campaign expenses, 50,000 roubles represented compensation for violation of the constitutional right to participate in elections, and 50,000 roubles compensation for persistence in achieving the legal goal of protecting their rights.

A Pushkinogorsk District Court judge, who considered the case for compensation for unlawful cancellation of the party list registration in the Novorzev District, ruled to pay Pskov Yabloko 190,152 roubles, including 90,152 roubles as compensation for direct costs incurred by the party’s electoral fund, 50,000 roubles for violation of the constitutional right to participate in elections, and 50,000 roubles compensation for persistence in achieving the legal goal of protecting their rights.

In both cases, the courts reduced compensation for non-pecuniary consequences from 200,000 to 50,000 roubles. Other demands by Pskov Yabloko were satisfied in full.

The decisions of Opochka and Pushkinogorsk district courts made a significant contribution to protecting constitutional values and developing the foundations of the constitutional order, said Vitaly Isakov, lawyer and Pskov Yabloko representative:

“Throughout three court hearings we consistently examined every detail of the compensatory mechanism for violation of constitutional rights and reached the limits of the academic development of this institution in the Russian legal system. In the hearings, all evidence for the validity of each compensation element was comprehensively assessed.

I should also note the high procedural culture of conducting the hearings, the attentive and respectful attitude of judges to the participants, detailed analysis of the provision of the Constitution and federal laws, and consideration of legal positions of Russia’s Constitutional Court,” Vitaly Isakov concluded.

It should be noted that in 2023, the completed registration of the party’s unified lists was appealed in courts by representatives of the Growth Party, A Just Russia and the Pensioners’ Party. In justification of their demands, they indicated that Yabloko’s documents for submission to electoral commissions were signed on 16 and 17 July by new regional branch Chairman Arthur Gaiduk, elected on 24 June, whilst information about him was entered by the tax inspectorate into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities on 18 July.

Courts of general jurisdiction, despite Pskov Yabloko’s arguments about the inadmissibility of unnatural and unconstitutional interpretation of legislation, supported the unlawful position. In October 2024, Pskov Yabloko appealed to the Constitutional Court.

On 18 March 2025, the Constitutional Court disagreed with the position of courts of general jurisdiction and confirmed that the head of a political organisation becomes such immediately from the moment of his/her election, not from the moment of including a record about this in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

The Constitutional Court drew attention to the fact that the interpretation of law adhered to by courts of four instances represented a deviation from Constitutional prescriptions and diminished voters’ freedom of expression.

On 18 June 2025, in execution of the Constitutional Court ruling, seven applications for applying compensatory mechanisms were filed in district courts of the Pskov Region that had previously issued unlawful decisions. Five more court processes lie ahead in Krasnogrodsk, Loknyna, Pechory, Pytalovo and Strugo-Krasnensk districts.