Three Navalny lawyers sentenced to years in Russian penal colony for ‘extremist activity’
Three lawyers for the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny were found guilty by a Russian court on Friday of belonging to an extremist group and sentenced to years in a penal colony.
LONDON — Three lawyers for the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny were found guilty by a Russian court on Friday of belonging to an extremist group and sentenced to years in a penal colony.
Igor Sergunin, Alexei Liptser and Vadim Kobzev were arrested in October 2023 and added the following month to an official list of “terrorists and extremists.”
They were sentenced respectively to 3-1/2, 5 and 5-1/2 years after a trial held behind closed doors in the Vladimir region, east of Moscow.
“Vadim, Alexei and Igor are political prisoners and must be released immediately,” Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late politician, posted on X.
Human rights activists say the prosecution of lawyers who defend people speaking out against the authorities and the war in Ukraine crosses a new threshold in the repression of dissent under President Vladimir Putin.
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