Press Release, 31 March 2026

Photo: Lev Shlosberg being escorted to court / Photo by Pskov Yabloko

On 31 March, the Pskov City Court began hearing the investigation’s application to extend Lev Shlosberg’s pre-trial detention. He was brought to court from the remand centre. At the start of the hearing, Lev Shlosberg submitted an application for an adjournment.

He explained that he had not been notified of the hearing in advance and had learnt of it only moments before leaving the detention facility, and that he had not had time to read the case materials:

“I have not seen any of the case materials. I ask that I be given at least one day to study the materials, prepare for the hearing, and prepare my defence.”

Pskov City Court judge granted the application, despite objections from the investigator.

The hearing will resume on 2 April at 10:00.

Lev Shlosberg has been held in pre-trial detention since 5 December 2025. He is charged with spreading “fake news about the army” in connection with a repost made on his Telegram channel in February 2022. This is chronologically the third case brought against Lev Shlosberg. It was opened on the eve of the expiry of the six-month period of his house arrest under the second case, which concerned the “repeated discrediting of the army”.

The materials in the “fake news” case have been fabricated, Lev Shlosberg stated at the court hearing on 11 February.

In addition, Lev Shlosberg is currently appealing his conviction in the so-called “foreign agent labels” case — in which the court previously sentenced him to 420 hours of community service for retaining five video recordings made by other people on his social media page. The conviction contains 99 violations of the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure.