A Russian court on Friday sentenced three lawyers for the late opposition leader Alexei A. Navalny to five and a half years in prison for passing his correspondence to his allies, a clear reminder of how the Kremlin pursues his associates. even after his death.
The three lawyers – Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Aleksei Liptser – were arrested in October 2023 while Mr Navalny was in a high-security penal colony in Siberia, in a stark warning that the Kremlin intended to break Mr. Navalny’s ties to the outside world.
The municipal court in Petushki, about 130 kilometers east of Moscow, convicted the three lawyers, all of whom represented Mr. Navalny at some point over the past decade, of involvement in an extremist group, reports said. Russian news agencies from the courtroom.
Even from prison, Mr. Navalny was the most popular opposition figure in Russia, defiantly challenging the rule of President Vladimir V. Putin, and authorities banned his national movement as extremist shortly before the invasion. Ukraine in 2022.
Mr Kobzev was sentenced to five and a half years in prison, Mr Liptser to five years and Igor Sergunin, the only one of the three to plead guilty, to three and a half years.
Yulia Navalnaya, Mr. Navalny’s widow, in a statement On Friday, he called the three lawyers political prisoners and called for their release. And Lyubov Sobol, one of Mr. Navalny’s longtime allies, said the that the decision was “dictated by the Kremlin and aims to take revenge on those who remained alongside Navalny until the end”.
Prosecutors said during the trial that lawyers “used their position” to pass Mr. Navalny’s correspondence from a penal colony in Petushki, where he spent time before being transferred to Siberia, to his allies in Russia and abroad.
In its ruling, the court agreed with their assertion that this had allowed Mr Navalny “to exercise his role as a leader and head of an extremist organization”.
Two other lawyers for Mr. Navalny, Olga Mikhailova and Alexandr Fedulov, were charged in absentia because they had fled the country. Their case has not yet been heard.
Mr Navalny was serving a 19-year prison sentence on several charges when he died in a high-security penal colony in February last year. Russian authorities attributed his death to a series of illnesses compounded by a cardiac arrhythmia, a conclusion that was strongly rejected by his family and allies, with Ms Navalnaya suggesting the state was responsible for his death.
Some of the letters and prison diaries that lawyers helped get out of Petushki prison were included in Mr. Navalny’s case file. memorywhich was released posthumously late last year.
Mr. Navalny’s lawyers argued during the trial that they were being prosecuted for routine legal work, such as acting as a liaison between a client and his family or associates.
Mr Kobzev, who worked alongside the opposition leader, told the court that “we are being tried for transmitting Navalny’s thoughts to other people”, according to the Novaya Gazeta newspaper.
The three lawyers were placed in a cage in the courtroom, and on Friday, as the hearing began, their supporters chanted “We are proud of you!” You are the best in Russia! as they smiled at fans and reporters, according to social media footage.
In an apparent attempt to dampen the show of support, police arrested four journalists and a supporter as they arrived by train in Petushki on Friday morning. They were released without charge after the verdict was announced, according to Mediazona, an independent Russian media outlet.
The prosecution of the lawyers is part of the Kremlin’s attempt to isolate Mr. Navalny, who has managed to remain an important voice in Russian politics despite his incarceration, and his Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Lawyers representing their three colleagues told reporters outside court that they were not intimidated by the prosecution. “Things may be different, but being a lawyer is not about being afraid,” said Denis Leisle, who represents Mr. Liptser, speaking to Mediazona.
Ivan Zhdanov, president of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, said the move would set a dangerous precedent for the country’s legal system, as people could be held responsible for something as innocuous as forwarding correspondence.
“The lawyers already knew that they were being monitored during meetings with their clients,” he wrote on his Telegram channel. “Now they will know that they were being monitored, recorded and that this could be used against them in court to convict them. »
