Three lawyers who represented late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were sentenced to up to 5,5 years in prison. A verdict that reflects escalating Kremlin repression.
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00:00Three former lawyers for late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were jailed on Friday
00:06in what critics see as part of a harsh Kremlin crackdown on dissent.
00:10The court sentenced Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Lifster to three and a half to
00:15five and a half years for links to extremist groups.
00:19Navalny's organizations were banned in 2021 as extremists, a move widely criticized as
00:24politically motivated at the time.
00:26Prosecutors claim that the lawyers passed Navalny's messages to his team.
00:32Supporters in the courtroom called the lawyers heroes as the verdict aimed to intimidate
00:36defense lawyers from taking political cases.
00:39Two other lawyers, now abroad, face similar charges in their absence.
00:43Kremlin critics say the crackdown marks a return to Soviet-era tactics against dissent.
00:48Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and outspoken opponent of President Vladimir Putin,
00:53was arrested in 2021 upon his return from Germany, where he was recuperating from a
00:57nerve agent poisoning by Russian Secret Service operatives.
01:01He died in prison in February 2023 while serving a 19-year sentence.