Russian court upholds 11-year prison sentence for opposition politician Lev Shlosberg

The Pskov Regional Court has upheld the sentence handed to Lev Shlosberg, the deputy chair of the Yabloko party, on a repeat charge of “discrediting” the Russian army and spreading “false information” about the military, the independent outlet Mediazona reported.Closing arguments in the appeal took two days. Shlosberg, who is being held in a pretrial detention center, spoke on both days, for nine hours in all. He spent most of that time on what he described as numerous violations by the judge who sentenced him to 11 years and one month.In his final statement, Shlosberg spoke about each person’s purpose in life and the conscious choice between good and evil.Dozens of people are present in the life and fate of every person subjected to repression, acting, making decisions, and taking actions — people without whom repression would be impossible. Each of them makes a choice: whether to remain human or to renounce the humanity within themselves. Other people’s fates are shaped by these personal choices and personal decisions. You don’t need to perform heroic feats to remain human. It’s enough not to do evil, not to take part in evil, and not to commit acts that go against human nature.Humanity has survived, and even amid madness and chaos it retains the prospect of a human future, because people decide to remain human every day, every minute, every second. […] I have a dream: to see our country as one whose people passed every test of this twilight period and remained human. I know it can be done. Remain human. Thank you.In August 2026, a court sentenced Shlosberg to 11 years and one month in a penal colony. The “discrediting” case stemmed from a recording, posted on the social network Odnoklassniki, of a debate in which he argued that Russia’s war against Ukraine needed to end as soon as possible. The “false information” case was opened over a repost on Shlosberg’s Telegram channel of an Echo of Moscow post showing the front page of the British newspaper Daily Mirror. The page featured a bloodied woman and Vladimir Putin, along with the words “Her blood… his hands.” Shlosberg said the material had been reposted before Russia passed its law against spreading “false information” about the army.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.