A court in Russia's Vladimir Oblast sentenced three former lawyers of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny to between three and a half and five and half years in prison, the independent news outlet Mediazona reported on Jan. 17.
Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser, and Igor Sergunin were sentenced after a closed-door trial on "extremism" charges over their involvement with Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation. The foundation was the flagship project of Navalny, Russia's most known opposition leader, who died under unclear circumstances in a Russian prison colony in February 2024.
The news underscores Russia's increasingly harsh repressions against domestic opposition, which only escalated with the outbreak of the full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022. "Extremism" charges are widely seen as a tool to suppress and scare off voices that criticize the current leadership or Russia's war in Ukraine.
Kobzev was sentenced to five and half years, Liptser to five years, and Sergunin to three and half years in prison. They sare also barred from practicing law for three years after the completion of their prison sentences.
The three were detained in October 2023 after being accused of "using their status" as lawyers to facilitate communication between imprisoned Navalny and his organization, labeled as "extremist" by Russian authorities, Meduza reported.
Launched in 2011, the Anti-Corruption Foundation has published investigations into suspected corruption among top Russian officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and former President Dmitry Medvedev.
Russia designated the group as "extremist" and formally dissolved it in 2021. The foundation was relaunched as an international organization the following year.
Olga Mikhailova and Alexander Fedolov, two other Navalny's ex-lawyers charged with "extremism," have left Russia and are wanted by Russian authorities.
Moscow's crackdown targets other prominent opposition figures as well. On Jan. 16, Russian law enforcement officers raided the home of oppositionist Illia Yashin's parents.
Yashin was previously sentenced to eight and half years in 2022 for denouncing Russia's war crimes in Ukraine. He was released during a large-scale prisoner exchange between Moscow and the West in August 2024 and now resides abroad.
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