Yabloko’s election registration cancelled
Russia’s Supreme Court accepted an administrative application filed by the Rodina party, led by Aleksey Zhuravlyov, against Yabloko. The court ruled that Yabloko’s registration for the State Duma elections should be cancelled.
When announcing the ruling, the judge said Rodina’s request had been accepted and that Yabloko’s election registration had been cancelled. The decision has not yet entered into force. Yabloko representatives said they would appeal, and the party can file an appeal within five days.
Rodina’s intellectual property and spending allegations
Rodina’s application alleged that Yabloko used the phrase “As long as there is no war” from Aleksandr Volodin’s play “Five Evenings” in an interview without the copyright holder’s permission.
The application also alleged that Yabloko’s logo was a copy of the Soviet artist El Lissitzky’s poster “Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge.” Rodina further argued that Yabloko had spent around 88 million rubles online on campaigning outside the candidates’ election fund.
The prosecutor’s position and the defence’s request
Rodina’s other accusations included extremism and LGBT propaganda. The prosecutor’s office supported the request to exclude Yabloko from the election and called for the intellectual property violation allegation to be examined. At the same time, the prosecutor’s office found that the extremism allegation had not been substantiated by any evidence.
Yabloko’s defence and party chairman Nikolay Rybakov asked the court to reject Rodina’s application in full. Since the court’s decision is not final, Yabloko’s appeal process remains ongoing.
