Russian Supreme Court rejects anti-war party’s appeal against election ban as dozens detained outside

Russia's Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the liberal Yabloko party on Monday against an earlier ruling to bar it from upcoming parliamentary elections, the party’s press service reported on Monday. The appeal was heard by the Supreme Court’s appeals panel. Yabloko said it would file a supervisory complaint with the Supreme Court’s presidium in the coming days.

The appeals panel also dismissed a separate complaint from the nationalist Rodina party, which brought the suit that led to Yabloko’s disqualification. Rodina had challenged the first-instance court’s rejection of some of its copyright infringement claims against Yabloko.

During Monday’s hearing, Yabloko’s representatives filed 10 motions asking the court to admit additional evidence in an effort to show the case against the party was groundless. The court denied all 10.

Party leader Nikolai Rybakov said that if the ruling stands, it would amount to “the final, official dismantling of elections as an institution” in Russia. He dismissed the accusations against Yabloko as baseless and absurd, including that it had received foreign funding, engaged in “covert” campaign advertising, and violated copyrights. He also stated that Yabloko was “defending the state’s stability” by insisting the law be upheld, while it was the Supreme Court that was “undermining that stability”.

More than 85 people were detained outside the Supreme Court building and on neighbouring streets on Monday, according to the Telegram channel RusNews.