A Russian court on Friday sentenced three lawyers of the late opposition leader Alexei A. Navalny to up to five and a half years in prison for leaking his correspondence to allies. even after his death.
The three lawyers – Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser – were arrested in October 2023 while Mr Navalny was in a high-security prison in Siberia, a stark warning that the Kremlin intends to cut Navalny's ties. the outside world.
A court in the town of Petushki, about 80 miles east of Moscow, charged three lawyers who have represented Mr. Navalny over the past decade with involvement in an extremist group, Russian news agencies reported from the courtroom.
Even from prison, Mr. Navalny was the most popular dissident in Russia to challenge the rule of President Vladimir V. Putin, and the authorities banned his nationwide movement as extremist shortly before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Mr. Kobzev was sentenced to five and a half years, Mr. Liptser to five years, and Igor Sergunin, the only one of the three who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to three and a half years.
Mr. Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya, a statement On Friday, he called the three lawyers political prisoners and called for their release. And one of Mr. Navalny's longtime allies, Lyubov Sobol, He said in X The decision was dictated by the Kremlin and is trying to take revenge on those who remained on Navalny's side until the end.
Prosecutors said in the trial that the lawyers “used their position” to pass Mr. Navalny's correspondence from the colony in Petushki, where he lived before being transferred to Siberia, to allies in Russia and abroad.
In its ruling, the court agreed with their claim that this allowed Mr. Navalny to “carry out his role as the leader and leader of an extremist organization.”
Two other lawyers of Mr. Navalny, Olga Mikhailova and Alexander Fedulov, were charged in absentia for fleeing the country. Their case is still pending.
Mr. Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence on multiple charges when he died in a maximum-security prison last February. Russian authorities linked her death to a series of illnesses aggravated by heart arrhythmia, a finding strongly denied by her family and allies, with Ms Navalny suggesting the state was responsible for her death.
Some of the letters and prison diaries that lawyers helped to break out of Petushki prison were included in Mr. Navalny's files. memorywas published posthumously late last year.
Mr. Navalny's lawyers argued in court that they were being prosecuted for routine legal work, such as establishing contact between clients and their family or partners.
According to “Novaya Gazeta” newspaper, Mr. Kobzev, who worked side by side with the opposition leader, said in court that “we are being tried because we conveyed Navalny's ideas to other people.”
The three attorneys were caged in the courtroom, and at the start of Friday's hearing, supporters chanted, “We're proud of you! You are the best people in Russia!” while smiling at supporters and reporters according to social media footage.
On Friday morning, the police detained four journalists and one supporter on their way to Petushki by train in order to weaken the demonstration of support. They were released without charge after the verdict was announced, according to Mediazona, an independent media outlet in Russia.
The prosecution of the lawyers was in line with the Kremlin's attempt to isolate Mr. Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation, who have managed to have a major say in Russian politics despite being imprisoned.
Lawyers representing the three colleagues told reporters outside the court that they were not intimidated by the prosecution. Speaking to Mediazona, Denis Leisle, who represents Mr. Liptser, said, “Everything can be different, but being a lawyer is not about being afraid.”
Ivan Zhdanov, chairman of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, said the decision would set a dangerous precedent for the country's legal system, as people could be prosecuted for something as innocuous as the transmission of correspondence.
He wrote on the Telegram channel: “Lawyers already knew that they were being monitored during meetings with their clients. “Now they'll know they're being watched, they're being recorded, and it can be used against them in court to convict them.”