3 lawyers for the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny are
jailed by a Russian court
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 [January 17, 2025]
PETUSHKI, Russia (AP) — Three lawyers who once represented
the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were convicted by a
court Friday as part of the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissent that has
reached levels unseen since Soviet times.
Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser were already in custody
and were given sentences from 3 1/2 to five years by a court in the town
of Petushki, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Moscow. They were
arrested in October 2023 on charges of involvement with extremist
groups, as Navalny’s networks were deemed by authorities.
The case was widely seen as a way to increase pressure on the opposition
to discourage defense lawyers from taking political cases.
At the time, Navalny was serving a 19-year prison term on several
criminal convictions, including extremism. He died in a Russian prison
camp in February 2023.
The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that Kobzev
said in his final statement in court on Jan. 10 that “we are being tried
for transmitting Navalny's thoughts to other people.”
The independent Russian news outlet Mediazona reported three journalists
attending the sentencing were detained and taken to a police station.
Navalny's networks were deemed extremist following a 2021 ruling that
outlawed his organizations — the Foundation for Fighting Corruption and
a network of regional offices — as extremist groups.
That ruling, which exposed anyone involved with the organizations to
prosecution, was condemned by Kremlin critics as politically motivated
and designed to stifle Navalny’s activities.
According to Navalny’s allies, authorities accused the lawyers of using
their position to pass information from him to his team.
Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and outspoken opponent of
President Vladimir Putin, was arrested in 2021 upon his return from
Germany, where he was recuperating from a nerve agent poisoning he
blamed on the Kremlin. He was ordered to serve 2 1/2 years in prison.
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Lawyers Igor Sergunin, from left, Alexei Liptser and Vadim Kobzev,
all who once represented late opposition leader Alexei Navalny,
stand in a courtroom in Petushki, Vladimir region, about 120
kilometers (75 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025.
(AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
After two more trials, his sentence was extended to 19 years. He and
his allies said the charges were politically motivated and accused
the Kremlin of seeking to jail him for life.
In December 2023, Navalny was moved from a penal colony in the
Vladimir region east of Moscow to one above the Arctic Circle, where
he died in February at the age of 47 under still-unexplained
circumstances. His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, and members of his team
alleged he was killed on orders from the Kremlin. Officials have
rejected the accusation.
Two other Navalny lawyers, Olga Mikhailova and Alexander Fedulov,
are on a wanted list but no longer live in Russia. Mikhailova, who
defended Navalny for a decade, said she was charged in absentia with
extremism.
Kobzev, Liptser and Sergunin have been deemed to be political
prisoners, according to human rights advocates from Memorial,
Russia’s most prominent rights group that won the Nobel Peace Prize
in 2022. The group demands their immediate release.
Independent Russian media reported Friday that Konstantin Kotov, an
activist accused of donating to Navalny’s organization, left Russia
before he was due to appear in a Moscow court Friday. He told
Mediazona he decided to leave after a heart surgeon, Ivan Tishchenko,
was jailed for four years for donating around $34 to Navalny’s
organization.
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