Press Release, 12.11.2026

Photo: Lev and Zhanna Shlosberg in court on 17 August 2026 (archive photo) / Photo by Alexei Dushutin, Novaya Gazeta

The Judicial Panel for Criminal Cases of the Pskov Regional Court has upheld Lev Shlosberg’s sentence in the consolidated criminal case and dismissed the appeals filed by the politician and his lawyers.

The hearing lasted five days. Almost all the defence’s motions were rejected. Lev Shlosberg spoke in the closing arguments for more than seven hours.

The appeal proceedings in Lev Shlosberg’s case were conducted in an atmosphere of ostentatious disregard for every single principle of justice, Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov emphasised. He pointed out that this atmosphere of “inexplicable cruelty” had been set by the court of first instance:

“The criminal law was applied retroactively, and the courts of first and second instance repeatedly violated Lev Shlosberg’s constitutional right to defence, rejecting literally every motion by his lawyers to obtain evidence of his innocence. Our colleague was also refused an independent expert examination, while the ‘evidence’ of his guilt was based on a completely absurd paper sent by a ‘special-purpose’ expert. There is undoubtedly ‘political hatred’ in the Shlosberg case — in the actions of those conducting the politically motivated persecution of a man who has never harmed anyone in his life, who has worked and lived for the sake of goodness and peace, and yet has received a longer sentence than for aggravated murder.”

Yabloko insists that Lev Shlosberg is completely innocent, that his persecution was initiated by the Pskov authorities, and that the sentence must be overturned as unlawful and unfounded.

Lev Shlosberg’s last word is available on the Yabloko website.

Timeline:

On 17 August, a judge of the Pskov City Court found Lev Shlosberg guilty of repeatedly “discrediting the use of the Russian Armed Forces” over his debate with historian Yuri Pivovarov, in which he had argued for the need for a ceasefire as soon as possible. She also found him guilty of disseminating information about the Russian Armed Forces motivated by political hatred, over a repost of a Daily Mirror front page on his Telegram channel. The repost had been made in February 2022, before the relevant article had been introduced into the Criminal Code.

The prosecution’s case was built on two things. The first was the testimony of serial witnesses in political cases: four members of the Druzhina defence and security assistance unit, which had been set up on the governor’s initiative, who all knew one another. The second was the opinions of experts, which the specialists engaged by the defence lawyers proved in court to be completely unfounded. The prosecution’s linguists, repeatedly violating established methodologies, analysed phrases uttered by Lev Shlosberg’s opponent rather than by Shlosberg himself. The motive of political hatred, which makes the alleged offence more serious, was “found” without involving a psychologist and without any personal contact with the politician.