Russia’s Supreme Court upholds ban on anti-war party Yabloko

Russia's Supreme Court on Monday upheld its decision to bar Russia's only anti-war party, Yabloko, from running in the September legislative elections, as dozens of party supporters were detained outside the court.

Last week, the court removed Yabloko from the ballot, upholding a suit brought by a nationalist party, which blasted the rival for its peace stance and accused it of receiving foreign funding and copyright violations.

"The Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Court upheld the court's decision to revoke the registration of Yabloko's federal list of candidates for the State Duma elections," the party said in a statement, adding that it would seek a supervisory review.

During the hearing, police pushed the supporters away from the building, along with journalists who had come to cover the decision, including an AFP reporter.

"Many detainees today. We also see that the police officers are very nervous today," Kirill Goncharov, head of Yabloko's Moscow branch, told the independent outlet Novaya Gazeta.

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He earlier estimated that more than 60 party supporters had been taken to nearby police stations. Some teenage detainees had already been released, according to Goncharov.

In the courtroom, party leader Nikolay Rybakov called the detentions "intimidation".

The ban strips voters opposed to the four-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine of their last option on the ballot.

Yevgeny Lyapin, who was outside the court, told AFP he had come simply to "support what is left of a declining democracy".

"I am neither a member nor a supporter of Yabloko, but I know that what is happening today is a blow to democracy across the whole country," he said.

Maria, 18, who came to support the party, said: "The president wants a great country; he talks about it all the time, and we want a free one."

In a separate case, Yabloko deputy chairman Lev Shlosberg was sentenced on Monday to 11 years and one month in prison over comments criticising Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.

With most of President Vladimir Putin's opponents jailed, in exile or dead, Yabloko is the only liberal party still operating in Russia.