Three lawyers representing Alexey Navalny, the Kremlin critic who passed away last year in an Arctic prison, have been convicted by a Russian court for belonging to an extremist group. Igor Sergunin, Alexei Liptser, and Vadim Kobzev were sentenced to three-and-a-half, five, and five-and-a-half years, respectively, following a trial held behind closed doors in Petushki, east of Moscow.
The lawyers were accused by prosecutors of using their status to pass letters written by Navalny during his imprisonment to his associates, allegedly enabling him to continue leading an extremist organization. Navalny, who died while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges he denied, passed away suddenly in February last year. The Russian prison service attributed his death to feeling unwell after a walk, while the Kremlin denied any involvement, though many Western nations and Navalny's allies blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Human rights organizations have criticized the sentencing of Navalny's associates as part of the Kremlin's ongoing crackdown on opposition to Putin's regime and the conflict in Ukraine. Amnesty International condemned the Russian authorities for targeting the lawyers for simply carrying out their legal duties, describing it as an abuse of the criminal justice system.
The lawyers were initially arrested in October 2023 on charges related to an extremist organization, a label Amnesty International deemed arbitrary and linked to Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation. This incident adds to a series of prosecutions against individuals associated with Navalny since his passing. Last year, two Russian journalists were accused of producing content for Navalny's YouTube channel, known for exposing corruption within the Kremlin.
Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny's widow, demanded the immediate release of the lawyers, referring to them as political prisoners. Navalny, a prominent opponent of Putin, was imprisoned upon his return to Russia in 2021 after being poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent, in Germany. An investigation implicated the Russian Security Service (FSB) in the poisoning. Navalny's demise occurred just over a month before Putin's re-election as president in March last year.
