Politics Navalny's defense lawyers stand trial in Russia

The Russian judiciary has begun a criminal trial against three defense lawyers of the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who died in custody.

In the trial in the small town of Petushki, around 120 kilometers east of Moscow, they are accused of belonging to an extremist association - meaning the Fund for Fighting Corruption (FBK) founded by Navalny.

According to trial observers, the presiding judge excluded the public from the trial against Vadim Kobsev, Alexei Lipzer and Igor Sergunin after a short time. The reason she gave was a warning from the police about alleged provocations by Navalny supporters.

Under Russian criminal law, the three lawyers face two to six years in prison and several years' disbarment. The defense lawyers were arrested in October 2023 while trials against their already imprisoned client Navalny were still ongoing.

At the time, FBK director Ivan Zhdanov suspected that the Russian judiciary wanted to completely isolate the Kremlin critic with this step. Navalny had also communicated with the public from prison. He died in February 2024 in unexplained circumstances in a Russian prison camp in the Arctic Circle.

Civil rights activists warn that the persecution of lawyers for opposition activists and dissidents is further undermining the rule of law in Russia.

SDA