Navalny – Putin’s main opponent- was declared an “extremist” by Russian authorities, a ruling that remains in force despite his death in an Arctic penal colony on Feb 16, 2024.
Moscow also banned Navalny’s organisations as “extremist” shortly before launching its 2022 Ukraine offensive and has ruthlessly targeted those it deems to have links to him.
A judge sentenced the reporters – Antonina Kravtsova, Konstantin Gabov, Sergei Karelin, and Artem Kriger – who all covered Navalny, to “five years and six months in a general-regime penal colony”, an AFP journalist heard.
They were found guilty of “participating in an extremist group” after being arrested last year.
The trial proceeded behind closed doors at Moscow’s Nagatinsky district court with only the sentencing open to the media, as has become typical for political cases in Russia amid its Ukraine offensive.
Around a hundred supporters, journalists and Western diplomats came to the court for the verdicts.
Supporters cheered and clapped as the defendants were led in and out, and one shouted: “You are the pride of Russia!”
“They will all appeal” their sentences, said Ivan Novikov, the lawyer defending Kriger.
“The sentence is unlawful and unjust,” said a second lawyer for Kriger, Yelena Sheremetyeva.
“No evidence was presented that these guys committed any crimes; their guilt was not proven,” Gabov’s lawyer Irina Biryukova said.
