Russian Yabloko politician jailed 4 years for Navalny donation — SkimNews
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- Elena Perepelitsa, a member of Russia's liberal Yabloko party, was sentenced to four years in a penal colony on Thursday for donating to Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, which Russia designates as a "foreign agent" and has outlawed as extremist.
- Perepelitsa is the third Yabloko member jailed in less than four months, part of a stepped-up crackdown on the opposition party that was largely barred from contesting September's parliamentary election.
- In a Telegram post, Yabloko shared Perepelitsa's court statement denying she knowingly financed extremist activity; state news agency TASS reported the verdict.
- Maxim Kruglov, Yabloko's deputy leader, was convicted in June of spreading lies about the Russian army and sentenced to seven years in prison.
- Lev Shlosberg, the party's deputy chairman, received just over 11 years in August for discrediting Russia's armed forces and spreading false information after condemning the war in Ukraine.
- Since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Russia's use of extremist designations and strict wartime censorship laws have driven many opposition figures into exile, while those who remain face prosecution for anti-war views and dissent.
Why it matters: Three Yabloko members jailed in four months, with sentences ranging from 4 to 11 years, shows the Kremlin is systematically eliminating what remains of organized liberal opposition rather than merely harassing it. The Perepelitsa case specifically criminalizes a financial donation — not a speech, protest, or social media post — signaling that even minimal support for banned groups now carries multi-year prison terms.
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