Russian Court Bars Anti-War Yabloko Party from Parliamentary Elections

Russia’s Supreme Court has officially excluded the opposition Yabloko party from the upcoming State Duma elections following a lawsuit filed by the far-right Rodina party.

Party Campaign for Peace and Freedom

“For the first time in five years, Russian citizens have a real opportunity to legally and safely vote for peace and freedom and to advocate for a ceasefire agreement,” emphasized party chairman Nikolai Rybakov in July. Politicians planned to run in the elections under the slogan “For peace and freedom.”

“The decision to allow Yabloko to participate in the elections was a surprise, even though the party has functioned for years as a so-called systemic opposition. Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, Yabloko politicians have opposed the war, which stands in complete contradiction to the course chosen by the Kremlin,” described “Wyborcza”.

Court Ruling and Appeal Plans

Representatives of Yabloko announced an appeal. Yabloko will be excluded from the autumn elections to the State Duma. The court granted the request of the far-right Rodina (Motherland) party, which demanded such a decision. The hearing lasted more than eight hours and was broadcast live on the website of the Supreme Court of Russia.

According to the dpa agency, the lawsuit followed good poll results for the opposition party. Yabloko had a chance to cross the five percent electoral threshold. A representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia supported the decision to deregister the party at the Supreme Court hearing. There are grounds to grant this request, said the prosecutor, quoted by the BBC. Now the Yabloko party has five days to appeal, and its representatives have already announced they will take that step.

Copyright Infringement and Foreign Funding Accusations

During the session, representatives of the Rodina party accused Yabloko of copyright infringement, among other things. In their view, the opposition group unlawfully used photographs depicting the bombing of Hiroshima from the US Library of Congress, quotes from interviews with former party leader Grigory Yavlinsky, and frames from the film “War and Peace”. Rodina also accused the opposition party of foreign financing. Yabloko allegedly received about 178 euros from the US and Germany. Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov rejected these allegations and appealed to the court to dismiss the lawsuit.

Yabloko’s lawyers presented extensive explanations they had prepared for over an hour. Yavlinsky, chairman of Yabloko’s Federal Political Committee, published a post supporting the party, assessing that an attempt is being made to bar it from the elections because the grouping calls for voting for peace. According to Rybakov, one of the main arguments contained in the motion is the support given to Yabloko by its online supporters. The authors of the lawsuit claim that over the past 10 days, 88 million rubles (close to 4 million PLN) were paid for publishing posts and videos and adding likes, and the total reach of these activities was supposed to cover 527 million network users.

Protests Outside the Moscow Court

Hundreds of people gathered in front of the court in Moscow to express support for the Yabloko party. In footage from the demonstration published on social networks, young people could be seen predominating among the gathered crowd. According to Yabloko representatives, about 500 people were waiting in line outside the court.

As reported by the independent portal Meduza, demonstrators watched the broadcast of the session, ate apples (the grouping’s name means “apple” in Polish), and argued in conversation with journalists that Yabloko is the only party representing their views and the views of millions of other Russians. At least two police vans intended for transporting detained individuals appeared near the building.

History and Recent Crackdown

Yabloko was once the most recognizable liberal party in Russia. Today, its members no longer sit in the State Duma and are present in only a few regional parliaments. Maksim Kruglov, deputy chairman of Yabloko, was sentenced by a court in Moscow in June to 7 years in a penal colony. The court found that Kruglov disseminated falsehoods about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.