A Russian court sentenced four journalists from extremism on Tuesday for having worked for an anti-corruption group founded by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny And condemned each to 5 and a half years in prison.
Antonina Favorskaya, Kostanin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artyom Kriger were found guilty of participation in a group that had been labeled as an extremist. All four had maintained their innocence, arguing that they were prosecuted for doing their job as journalists.
The closed -door trial was part of an implacable repression against dissent which reached an unprecedented scale after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
The authorities have targeted opposition figures, independent journalists, rights activists and ordinary Russians criticizing the Kremlin with prosecution, imprisoning hundreds and encourage thousands of people to flee the country.
AP
Favorskaya and Kriger worked with Sotavision, an independent Russian media which covers demonstrations and political trials. Gabov is an independent producer who has worked for several organizations, including Reuters. Karelin, independent video journalist, did work for the Western media, including the Associated Press.
The four journalists were accused of working with Navalny Foundation to fight corruptionwhich was designated as extremist and prohibited in 2021 in a decision widely considered to be politically motivated.
Navalny was the fiercest and most eminent president of President Vladimir Putin Relentlessly campaigning against official corruption in Russia. Navalnie Died in February 2024 in a criminal colony of the Arctic while serving a 19 years of 19 years old On a certain number of accusations, in particular the management of an extremist group, which he had rejected as politically motivated.
AP
Favorskaya said during an appearance in previous justice open to the public that she had been pursued for a story she had made on the mistreatment of Navalny in front of bars. Addressing the journalists of the defendant cage before the verdict, she also said that she had been punished for helping Organize the navalny funeral.
Gabov, in a closing statement prepared for the court published by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, said that the accusations against him were baseless and that the accusation had not proven.
“I understand perfectly well … In what kind of country I live. Throughout history, Russia has never been different, there is nothing new in the current situation,” Gabov said in the press release. “Independent journalism is assimilated to extremism.”
In a declaration, Karelin prepared for his closing arguments which were also published by Novaya GazetaHe said that he had agreed to do street interviews for popular politics, a YouTube channel founded by Navalny’s Associates, while trying to support his wife and a young child. He stressed that the chain was not prohibited as an extremist and had done nothing illegal.
AP
“Removes are considered an attenuating circumstance. It is the criminals who need to have remorse for what they have done. But I am in prison for my work, for the honest and impartial attitude towards journalism, for love for my family and my country,” he wrote in a separate speech for the court which was also published by the point of sale, in which he underlined his feelings in capital letters.
Kriger, in a closing declaration published by Sotavision, said that he had been imprisoned and added to the Russian financial extremist and terrorist register “only because I conscientiously exercised my professional functions as an honest, incorruptible and independent journalist for 4 and a half years.”
“Do not despair the guys, sooner or later, it will end and those who pronounced the trouble will go behind bars,” said Kriger after the verdict.
The supporters who gathered in the courtyard of the Court sang and applauded while the four journalists were taken out of the courtroom after the verdict.
The Russian human rights memorial has appointed the four as political prisoners, among more than 900 other detainees in the country. This issue includes Mikhail Kriger, the Uncle of Artyom Kriger, an activist based in Moscow who was arrested in 2022 and purges a sentence of seven years in prison.
Mikhail Kriger was found guilty of justifying terrorism and encouraging hatred on Facebook’s comments in which he expressed the desire to “suspend” Putin.
The four journalists are not the only ones to be linked to Navalny who faced charges of the Russian legal system. In January, three lawyers who defended Navalny were found guilty of having participated in an “extremist organization” and sentenced to prison. The lawyers had helped to transmit Navalny prison statements to the world before his death. Vadim Kobzev, the deepest member of the team, was sentenced to a sentence of 5 and a half years. Alexey Lipster was sentenced to five years and Igor Sergunine was sentenced to 3 and a half years.
In July 2024, five months after the death of Navalny, Russia issued an arrest warrant For his wife, Yulia Navalnaya. The country accused Navalnaya of having participated in an “extremist organization”. Navalnaya, who lives in Germany and was appointed president of the Human Rights Foundation in July 2024, derived the decision on social networks.