Russian opposition politician Lev Shlosberg has been sentenced to 11 years and one month in a penal colony after being convicted of criticising Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.
Shlosberg, Deputy Chairman of the liberal Yabloko party, denied the charges and described the case as politically motivated. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 12 years and one month.
In his final statement, he called the war a catastrophe for Russia and repeated his demand for an immediate ceasefire.
“I am an innocent man, against whom criminal charges have been unlawfully brought.”
The case centred on allegations that Shlosberg discredited Russia's armed forces and spread false information about the military.
One charge related to a Telegram post from February 2022, shortly before Russia introduced sweeping wartime censorship laws. Another stemmed from a public debate in which he was accused of calling for a ceasefire.
Shlosberg argued that the charges were unlawful and maintained that some of the statements cited by prosecutors had been made by his debate opponent.
In his closing remarks, he also spoke about the human cost of the war.
"The lives of countless thousands of people have been cut short during this time. Sooner or later, the precise and complete death toll - with names included - will be made public, and the entire nation will shudder at this list of martyrs," he said, according to a transcript by independent news outlet Mediazona.
“Today, cemeteries in our country, including military ones, are growing far more rapidly than maternity wards, kindergartens, and schools,” he said.
Moscow says it is fighting to address security threats from NATO and Ukraine, and to defend the rights of Russian-speakers living in Ukraine. However, Kyiv and its Western allies reject these as a false premise for launching the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two.
The sentence comes as the Yabloko party faces mounting pressure ahead of Russia's parliamentary election next month.
Russia's Supreme Court has barred it from taking part in the election, while the court rejected its appeal on Monday (17 August).
Yabloko is the only registered Russian political party to openly call for an end to the war. Its exclusion means there will be no major registered party campaigning nationally on that platform.
Yabloko Deputy Leader, Maxim Kruglov, was sentenced to seven years in June for spreading what authorities described as false information about the military.
Russia introduced tough laws after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 giving lengthy prison sentences for people accused of spreading false information about the armed forces or discrediting the military.
The laws have sharply limited public criticism of the war inside Russia.
Shlosberg has now joined a small group of prominent opposition figures who have used court proceedings to speak publicly against the conflict and the Kremlin's policies, despite facing little prospect of acquittal.
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