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Today, the Supreme Court heard an appeal against the decision to remove Yabloko from the elections. The court upheld the decision. This was reported from the courthouse by the media outlet ‘Ostorozhno, Novosti.’ Here’s a brief summary of the key points:

  • The grounds for removing Yabloko from the elections were donations totalling 16,900 rubles (about US$185) from Russian citizens living abroad. The court deemed these contributions to be ‘foreign funding.’
  • Party leader Nikolai Rybakov stated that the court’s decision violates the principle of equal treatment for political parties. According to Yabloko, similar donations have been made to five other parliamentary parties, with a combined total of at least 1.15 billion rubles (around US$12.6 million).
  • The court rejected this and other requests by Yabloko to add further materials to the case file.
  • The case also included some entirely absurd materials. For example, the decision to remove the party from the elections was partly based on a report by the Association of Bloggers and Agencies. This report cited publications allegedly campaigning for Yabloko. One such reference was to a blogger Alexander Shtefanov’s post about the singer Shaman burning his leather trousers. According to the party’s lawyer, in most of the other 200+ publications in the report, Yabloko is also not mentioned.
  • The Central Election Commission and the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia supported the Supreme Court’s decision to remove Yabloko from the elections.
  • Yabloko’s complaint was reviewed by the same judge who ruled in 2018 that Alexei Navalny could legally be barred from running in the presidential election.
  • More than 60 people who came to the courthouse to support Yabloko were detained and taken to a police station. At least some were released without official charges, but were cautioned against taking part in ‘rallies.’
  • Yabloko was the only party on the list with an anti-war position.