A Russian court has sentenced three lawyers who defended the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to prison terms ranging from 3.5 to 5.5 years. They were convicted of participating in an “extremist organization,” a charge often used to silence Navalny’s allies.
The lawyers, Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin, and Alexei Liptser, were arrested in October 2023 while Navalny was imprisoned. Navalny, who died last February under suspicious circumstances, had been transferred to a notorious penal colony in Siberia months earlier.
The trial took place behind closed doors in Petushki, east of Moscow. According to the court, the lawyers “abused their status” to transmit messages between Navalny and his associates.
The BBC, citing anonymous sources, reported that Igor Sergunin was the only one to plead guilty and received the lighter sentence of 3.5 years. Alexei Liptser was sentenced to 5 years, and Vadim Kobzev to 5.5 years.
Kobzev’s lawyer claimed that the evidence presented by the court amounted to an invasion of privacy, stating, “It is fundamentally prohibited to eavesdrop on consultations between a lawyer and a client in a penal colony. There is a direct legal prohibition,” he told the BBC.
Source: NOS