Eleven years in prison for illegal speech: reactions to the verdict against Russian opposition politician Lev Shlosberg

A Pskov court sentenced Lev Shlosberg, the 63-year-old deputy chairman of the liberal Yabloko party, to 11 years and one month in a penal colony on charges of repeatedly “discrediting” the Russian army and spreading “fake news” about the military.

The formal pretexts for prosecuting him were his participation in debates and his repost of a Daily Mirror cover featuring Vladimir Putin.

Shlosberg is one of the few Russian politicians who have publicly opposed the war in Ukraine while remaining in Russia.

In his final statement, he spoke about the need to end the fighting between the two countries (though the judge kept interrupting him).

Here’s how Shlosberg himself, his fellow party members, and other politicians and journalists reacted to the sentence.