Press Release, 2.10.2026

Photo: Marina Zheleznyakova / Photo by the Yabloko branch in Primorye

The Supreme Court of Russia has upheld the sentence handed down to Marina Zheleznyakova, Chair of the Primorye branch of Yabloko in the Far East: a fine of two million roubles in a case of so-called “rehabilitation of Nazism”. The criminal case was prompted by a Victory Day greeting she published on Telegram on 9 May 2021.

The case was opened in March 2024. In August 2025, the Primorye Territory Court began hearing it with a jury, as the defence had requested. On 10 November, the jury found Zheleznyakova guilty by a majority of five votes to three, and on 12 November the court imposed a fine of two million roubles, payable in instalments over 40 months.

On 18 March 2026, the Fifth Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction dismissed the appeals filed by Zheleznyakova and her defence lawyer, and the sentence entered into legal force. Lawyer Sergei Valiulin sought a retrial. Among other things, he pointed out that the jury had included a senior warrant officer of the Federal Penitentiary Service, who by law could not have served on it. The defence also argued that the adversarial principle and the secrecy of the judge’s deliberations had been violated.

Marina Zheleznyakova does not admit her guilt. In her post, she honoured the memory of the fallen and the heroism of those who defeated Nazism, while also speaking of the Stalinist system’s responsibility for tragic mistakes and the loss of human life. Her assessment concerned the political regime and its decisions, and she is convinced that acknowledging this responsibility is essential for preserving historical truth and preventing new tragedies. She emphasised that the charge was based on a single sentence taken out of a lengthy congratulatory text. “I wrote this post with the sole intention that nothing like this should ever happen again,” Zheleznyakova told the court.

Yabloko maintains that such assessments have historical grounds. Speaking about preparations for the trial, Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov pointed to the memoirs of people who fought in the war, including Marshal Georgy Zhukov and writer Konstantin Simonov, who also wrote about the state of the Soviet army before the German invasion and the causes of the military catastrophe. The party’s position is that reflecting on the mistakes and crimes of the country’s leadership is compatible with respect for the people’s heroism and cannot be regarded as a justification of Nazism.

Two million roubles is a substantial sum, and it will be impossible to pay the fine without the help of Russian citizens. Yabloko has launched a fundraiser among Russian citizens to support the Chair of its Primorye regional branch.