TALLINN, Estonia — A Moscow court extended on Thursday pre-trial detentions for three lawyers who once represented imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The three were arrested in October on charges of participating in an extremist group, a case widely seen as a means to ramp up pressure on the politician.
The Basmanny District Court ruled that Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser will remain behind bars at least until March 13.
According to Navalny’s allies, authorities accuse the lawyers of using their status as defense attorneys to pass letters from the imprisoned politician to his team. Both Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a vast network of regional offices were outlawed as extremist organizations in 2021, a step that exposed anyone involved with them to prosecution.
Since January 2021, Navalny has been serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism. As President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, he campaigned against official corruption and organized major anti-Kremlin protests. His 2021 arrest came upon his return to Moscow from Germany, where he recuperated from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Navalny has since been handed three prison terms and spent months in isolation in prison for alleged minor infractions. He has rejected all charges against him as politically motivated.
His team says that by targeting his lawyers, authorities are seeking to increase his isolation further. For many political prisoners in Russia, regular visits from lawyers — especially in remote regions — are a lifeline as it allows their families to know their lawyers have seen them, and also lets the prisoners report any abuse by prison officials.
The Kremlin has been carrying out an unrelenting crackdown on dissent in recent years, and ramped up pressure after invading Ukraine in February 2022. Since then and until early this month, 19,844 people have been detained for speaking out or protesting against the war while 776…
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