Alexei Navalny was one of the most vocal critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As an opposition leader and anti-corruption activist, he built a movement that exposed government corruption and called for democratic reforms.
His influence grew despite multiple arrests, legal cases, and an assassination attempt. In 2021, he was poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent, and was treated in Germany.
After recovering, he returned to Russia, where he was immediately arrested. His prison sentence kept increasing, and in 2023, he was sent to a remote Arctic prison, where he later died under unclear circumstances.
Now, Russian authorities are targeting those who worked with him, including his former legal team.
Sentenced to Five Years
According to The Independent, three of Navalny’s former lawyers — Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin, and Alexei Liptser — have been sentenced to prison on charges of extremism.
A court in Petushki, a town about 100 kilometers from Moscow, sentenced them to terms ranging from three and a half to five years.
The three lawyers were arrested in October 2023.
Authorities accused them of being involved in extremist groups after Navalny’s organizations were banned.
Navalny’s networks were officially labeled extremist in 2021, which made any association with them a criminal offense.
In his final statement in court on January 10, Kobzev said:
"We are being judged because we conveyed Navalny’s ideas to other people," according to Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper.
While the lawyers were on trial, Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence for multiple convictions, including extremism.
He had previously been sentenced to two and a half years but received additional charges that extended his prison term. He and his allies said the charges were politically motivated.
In December 2023, Navalny was transferred from a prison east of Moscow to a remote penal colony beyond the Arctic Circle. He died there in February 2024 at the age of 47.
His wife, Yulia Navalnaya, and his team claim he was killed on Kremlin orders, but Russian officials deny the accusations.
