Press Release, 27.05.2026

Photo: Lev Shlosberg in court / Photo by Pskov Yabloko

On 27 May, Judge of the Pskov City Court Victoria Malyamova granted the prosecution’s application to extend the pre-trial detention of Yabloko Deputy Chairman Lev Shlosberg until 21 November.

At the outset of the hearing, Lev Shlosberg and his lawyer Vladimir Danilov filed a motion to recuse prosecutor Anna Goryacheva, who had acted as public prosecutor in the first criminal case against the politician — the case concerning the “missing foreign agent labels”.

Shlosberg argued that Goryacheva had no right to represent the state prosecution, having fabricated witness testimony, having a personal interest in the outcome of the case, and given that the new proceedings ought not to be overshadowed by the preceding cases. The judge dismissed the motion.

Shlosberg requested that his remand in custody be replaced by house arrest, on the grounds that the investigation had already been completed, that he had not once breached any of the preventive measures previously imposed on him, and that continued detention would protract the proceedings. The politician emphasised that a preventive measure could not be used as a form of punishment.

Shlosberg also noted that the investigation was charging him with having committed the offence on grounds of political hatred, yet the psychological and psychiatric examination which, under the law, may serve as evidence of such a motive had not been carried out in his case.

In his address to the court, the politician quoted from the speech delivered by Supreme Court Chairman Igor Krasnov at a judicial conference on 19 February 2026, in which it had been stated that courts should make wider use of house arrest and should base their decisions on the law rather than on the wishes of officials.

“In this case we can see traces of political influence,” Shlosberg concluded.

The politician stated that he had no intention of going into hiding and would attend court hearings in person even if no preventive measure were imposed on him at all, since his family had held a reputation in Pskov since the nineteenth century.

“I have never discussed the possibility of emigrating, including after the criminal cases were opened against me,” Shlosberg said.

Prosecutor Goryacheva told the court that the gravity of the offence, the degree of public danger, and the “intent to conceal circumstances material to the case” made it impossible to replace the preventive measure with a more lenient one.

Ten people travelled to court to show their support for Lev Shlosberg. Personal sureties on his behalf were signed by actors Pavel Derevyanko and Veniamin Smekhov, Presidential Human Rights Council member Eva Merkacheva, Elizaveta Oleskina, director of the Starost v Radost charitable foundation providing assistance to elderly people and people with disabilities, Yabloko party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, and Artur Gaiduk, Chairman of Pskov Yabloko and a deputy in the regional parliament. They petitioned the court to impose a preventive measure not involving remand in custody.

It should be noted that on 3 December a third criminal case was opened against Yabloko Deputy Chairman Lev Shlosberg — under Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code (the so-called “fake news about the army” article) — in connection with a repost of a publication in a Telegram channel made in February 2022. The relevant article was not added to the Criminal Code until March 2022. Shlosberg stated that the date of the “offence” with which he was being charged had been fabricated in the materials of the third criminal case.

On 8 December, the maximum permitted term of house arrest under the second criminal case — concerning the “repeated discrediting of the army” — was due to expire at six months. The law makes no provision for extending this term. The second and third cases were subsequently consolidated. The politician has not admitted guilt on any count of the indictment.

On 5 December, Judge Nadezhda Prokofyeva remanded Shlosberg in custody until 2 February. On 30 January, Judge Victoria Kulikova extended the period of detention until 2 April, and on 2 April Judge Anna Antsans extended it further to 2 June.

The consolidated criminal case against Lev Shlosberg has been transferred to Pskov City Court, where it will be heard by Judge Victoria Malyamova.