Nikolai Rybakov, chairman of Russian opposition party Yabloko, fined 1,000 rubles for writing ‘For Peace’ on his ballot

A St. Petersburg court fined Nikolai Rybakov, chairman of Yabloko, 1,000 rubles on an administrative charge of petty hooliganism.The court said that on September 20, Rybakov spoiled his ballots at a polling station, “acting deliberately and out of hooligan motives,” and then placed them in the ballot box.The ballots bore “markings made in green marker,” the press service of the St. Petersburg courts said, without specifying what the markings said. Rybakov voted in front of journalists, checking boxes next to every candidate and writing “Yabloko. For Peace” and “Yabloko. For a Ceasefire Agreement” on the ballots.“Rybakov’s actions disregarded the interests of society and other voters, ignored the rules of decency and propriety, demonstrated his disrespect for society, and resulted in damage to someone else’s property, thereby showing blatant disrespect for society and violating public order,” the court ruled.Rybakov confirmed in court that he had invalidated his ballots, saying “more than 900,000 voters did the same.” According to him, doing so “showed no disrespect for society, of which he is a part,” but rather expressed the political position he has held “his whole life.”Yabloko was the only party that campaigned in the September 18–20 elections with anti-war slogans. Russia’s Supreme Court overturned the party’s registration for the election to the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, in August. Afterward, Yabloko urged supporters to go to polling stations and spoil their ballots in protest.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.