Russia: Alexei Navalny Lawyers Get Multi-Year Sentences

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JAN 18

Above: (L-R) Igor Sergunin, Alexei Liptser, and Vadim Kobzev attend their verdicts reading in Petushki, Russia on Jan. 17, 2025. Image copyright: Tatyana Makeyeva/Contributor/AFP via Getty Imagesstory last updated JAN 18

The Facts

A Russian court on Friday jailed three lawyers who represented the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny on charges of participating in an extremist organization.
Vadim Kobzev received 5.5 years, Alexei Liptser was given 5 years, and Igor Sergunin — who pleaded guilty — received 3.5 years in prison. The trio have been banned from practicing law for three years after their release.
The lawyers were arrested in October 2023 and accused of using their legal status to relay messages between Navalny and his associates while he was imprisoned, effectively allowing him to continue leading what authorities deemed an extremist organization. It's common practice for lawyers to relay clients' messages from Russian prisons.

The Spin

Anti-Russia narrative

The prosecution of these lawyers represents a deliberate strategy to isolate political prisoners and dismantle the right to legal defense in Russia, marking an unprecedented assault on the legal profession that echoes Soviet-era repression. The Kremlin's crackdown on dissent is a way to increase pressure on the opposition and discourage defense lawyers from taking political cases.

Politico Usembassy

Pro-Russia narrative

The verdict is neither absurd nor politically motivated. The lawyers abused their legal status by facilitating illegal extremist activities, using their position to gain access to the correctional institution and help Navalny continue directing an extremist organization from his maximum-security prison in violation of Russian law.

RT Медиазона