Three attorneys representing the late Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny have been sentenced to as much as 5.5 years in jail. A verdict that displays the Kremlin’s rising repression.
Three attorneys who beforehand represented the late Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny had been sentenced to jail in Russia on Friday, escalating the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissent.
The attorneys, Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser, had been sentenced to phrases starting from 3.5 to five.5 years by the court docket in Petushki, about 100 kilometers east of Moscow.
The prices, tied to allegations of involvement with extremist teams, had been linked to Navalny’s organizations, which Russian authorities outlawed in 2021.
The ruling on the time uncovered anybody related to Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation or his community of regional places of work to prosecution.
As the verdicts had been learn, supporters within the courtroom shouted, “You guys are heroes! We are with you!” whereas they applauded.
Speaking after the ruling, Andrei Grivtsov, Kobzev’s lawyer, criticized the court docket’s determination. “Today, a sentence was handed which, in our opinion, is illegitimate, unfounded and unjust,” he mentioned. “We do not agree with this verdict, we will not agree. I believe we now have a really sturdy authorized place.”
The case was seen as an try and intimidate authorized professionals from defending political instances. In his last assertion in court docket on January 10, Kobzev famous: “We are on trial for transmitting Navalny’s ideas to different folks,” as reported by Novaya Gazeta.
Grivtsov acknowledged the challenges confronted by attorneys within the present local weather. “A lawyer has a really tough job normally, and if you defend your colleague, it is much more tough as a result of you possibly can’t assist however mission this example onto your self,” he mentioned. “You’re a lawyer and also you perceive what is going on on.”
What occurred to Navalny?
Navalny, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested in 2021 upon returning to Russia from Germany, the place he was recovering from a near-fatal nerve agent poisoning carried out by Russian intelligence.
He was initially sentenced to 2.5 years in jail, later prolonged to 19 years following additional trials.
Navalny died in February 2023 in a penal colony above the Arctic Circle beneath tough medical circumstances his allies mentioned had been orchestrated by the Kremlin.
Human rights teams, together with Memorial, which received the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, declared the three jailed attorneys political prisoners. The teams demand their quick launch.
Meanwhile, two different attorneys from Navalny’s authorized group, Olga Mikhailova and Alexander Fedulov, stay on Russia’s wished checklist however now reside overseas.
