‘Shameful’ Russia locks up Navalny’s lawyers on extremism charges – POLITICO

Three lawyers for deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were on Friday sentenced to prison for “being part of an extremist group,” a Russian court ruled.

Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin, who have been in pre-trial detention since October 2023, are accused of passing Navalny’s prison messages to the outside world.

The court said that allowed Navalny — who died in the Arctic Polar Wolf prison colony in February 2024 — to continue his role as the “leader of the extremist group.”

Navalny, thanks to associates outside, was able to post on social media and file lawsuits over his treatment in prison. His letters partly served as a basis for the memoir “Patriots,” which was released late last year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped up a domestic crackdown on dissent since launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kobzev was sentenced to five and a half years in prison, Liptser to five years and Sergunin to three and a half years. All three were banned from practicing law for three years after serving their sentences.

“Vadim, Alexei and Igor are political prisoners and should be released immediately,” Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Navalny, wrote in a post on X.

Kobzev’s lawyer Andrei Grivtsov called the sentence “cruel,” and said his client was a courageous man who “remains a truly dignified lawyer.”

Navalny, who was considered Putin’s most significant opponent, died at the age of 47 in the penal colony. Russian authorities attributed his death to natural causes, but media reports have claimed that Navalny showed signs of poisoning before his death.

Amnesty International condemned Friday’s prison sentences and called them a “a shameful attempt to silence those who dared to defend Alexei Navalny and make his voice heard even from behind bars.”