Russia Sentences Three Lawyers Who Defended Alexey Navalny to Prison
Lawyers Face Up to Five Years in Jail for Alleged Ties to Navalny’s Groups, Labeled ‘Extremist’ by the Kremlin
Moscow, Russia – A Russian court has sentenced three lawyers who represented the late opposition leader Alexey Navalny to prison terms ranging from three and a half to five years.
The sentences, handed down on Friday, are part of a wider crackdown as Russia continues its extensive repression of Navalny’s associates, especially after his death under mysterious circumstances in an Arctic prison colony in February 2024.
Igor Sergunin, Alexei Liptser, and Vadim Kobzev were convicted in a court in Petushki, a town approximately 100 kilometers east of Moscow, for allegedly communicating messages from the imprisoned Navalny to the outside world. The lawyers were arrested in October 2023 on charges related to their alleged involvement with "extremist" organizations, which Russian authorities associated with Navalny’s groups.
Kobzev, in his final statement during the court proceedings on January 10, claimed that the lawyers were being prosecuted simply for sharing Navalny's messages with others. "We are being tried for transmitting Navalny’s thoughts to other people," he said.
Navalny’s networks, including his Anti-Corruption Foundation and a series of regional offices, were declared extremist by the Russian government in 2021, effectively making any association with them grounds for prosecution. This ruling was widely seen as an attempt by the Kremlin to suppress Navalny’s political activities and silence dissent.
At the time of the lawyers' arrest, Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence on charges that included extremism—a label he denied. Navalny, a staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin and a prominent anti-corruption campaigner, was arrested upon his return to Russia in 2021 after surviving a poisoning attempt he blamed on the Kremlin.
Navalny was transferred from a penal colony in the Vladimir region to a facility above the Arctic Circle in late 2023. His death in February 2024, at age 47, remains shrouded in mystery, with no clear explanation for the cause.
In response to the court’s decision, Navalny’s widow released a statement calling for the immediate release of the three lawyers, describing them as “political prisoners.” Two other lawyers, Olga Mikhailova and Alexander Fedulov, are currently on a wanted list but are no longer residing in Russia.
The sentencing of these lawyers is seen by many as part of an ongoing effort by Russian authorities to intimidate defense lawyers and deter them from taking on politically sensitive cases.