Russia Bars Anti-War Opposition Party From Election

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Russia's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the Yabloko party, the sole officially registered party to openly oppose Moscow's war on Ukraine, against its removal from the ballot for September parliamentary elections.

In a separate hearing on August 17, a court in the city of Pskov sentenced an outspoken deputy chairman of Yabloko, Lev Shlosberg, to more than 11 years in prison after convicting him under a law designed to punish critics of the war.

The rulings display the Kremlin's determination to silence dissent, particularly when it comes to the war, and suggest that President Vladimir Putin is unwilling to risk the possibility of a strong showing by a party that is calling for its end.

The September 18-20 elections to the State Duma, Russia's upper parliament house, will be the first since Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Yabloko has made the slogan "For Peace and Freedom" central to its Duma campaign.

The Supreme Court decision "demonstrates a fundamental rejection of fair, competitive elections in Russia," Yabloko co-founder Grigory Yavlinsky said in a social media post, adding that it marked "a serious deepening crisis in the Russian political system and a lack of understanding of a desirable future."

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Late last month, the Central Election Commission unexpectedly registered Yabloko for the balloting. But on August 10, the Supreme Court sided with a nationalist party that alleged an array of violations including funding from abroad, copyright infringements, and extremism -- which Yabloko called "absurd" -- and barred it from the election.

At the appeal hearing on August 17, Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov said the case hinged not on technicalities but on the ability of the state to uphold the rule of law in times of crisis.

"We, the Yabloko party, demand that the electoral process be brought back into strict compliance with the law," Rybakov told the court.

"We demand respect for the constitution of the Russian Federation. We demand respect for the rights of millions of Russian voters who want to live, love, and raise their children in peace in Russia and therefore want to vote for the Yabloko party," he said.

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