Three of late Russian opposition leader Navalny’s lawyers sent to prison
Pravda Ukraine
The Petushinsky court in Russia’s Vladimir Oblast has sentenced Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin to terms of three and a half to five and a half years in prison for participation in a so-called extremist community. These three men are former lawyers of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in February 2024.
Source: Russian news outlets Mediazona and Meduza; Radio Liberty Russian service
Details: Kobzev was reportedly sentenced to five and a half years in prison, Liptser to five years, and Sergunin to three and a half years. They will also be banned from practising law for three years after serving their sentences.
The trial was held behind closed doors, and the final arguments in the court were presented on 24 December 2024. The men made their final statement on 10 January 2025.
Kobzev, Liptser and Sergunin were detained in Moscow in October 2023 and have been in pre-trial custody since then. According to the Russian investigation, Navalny’s lawyers “used their status” to pass on Navalny’s letters from the penal colony where he was imprisoned to his associates. In this way, they supposedly “ensured the regular transfer of information between the leaders and members of the extremist community”. Back in June 2021, the Russian authorities declared Alexei Navalny’s entities, including the Anti-Corruption Foundation, to be such a “community”.
The men were supposed to be sentenced on 10 January, but this was postponed to 17 January.
“The verdict against Navalny’s lawyers will be returned on 17 January at 10:00. The day Navalny came back to Russia and was imprisoned [in 2021 – ed.]. And tell me that’s a coincidence, yeah,” said Ivan Zhdanov, director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Background:
- On the afternoon of 16 February 2024, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service reported the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at Correctional Facility No. 3 in the town of Kharp in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, northwestern Siberia.
- Alexei Navalny had been imprisoned since early 2021. The Moscow City Court sentenced him to 19 years in prison in a special-regime colony for “extremism” in August 2023.
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