Published September 12,2024
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A Russian court docket on Thursday put three legal professionals who used to signify the late opposition chief Alexei Navalny on trial over “extremism” expenses.
Navalny died in unclear circumstances in an Arctic jail colony in February, the place he was serving a 19-year sentence for main an “extremist” organisation.
Since his demise, Russian authorities have escalated a marketing campaign towards the Kremlin critic’s backers, allies and household — arresting journalists who lined his court docket hearings and including his spouse, Yulia Navalnaya, to a “terrorists and extremists” blacklist.
The trial of three of his former legal professionals — Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin — opened Thursday in a court docket within the Vladimir area east of Moscow, AFP journalists within the courtroom reported.
Arrested in October 2023, the trio are accused of taking part in an “extremist” organisation, expenses which carry a most of six years.
Investigators say they handed messages between Navalny and his associates within the exterior world, serving to the Kremlin critic proceed his outlawed political exercise from behind bars.
At the time, Navalny’s staff alleged the arrest of the legal professionals was an try and isolate Navalny even additional in jail, the place he spent more often than not in solitary confinement.
At a pre-trial listening to, Sergunin pleaded responsible, impartial media reported, whereas Kobzev and Liptser rejected the costs.
The Kremlin has rejected accusations from Navalny’s allies that President Vladimir Putin ordered him killed in jail.
The West and Moscow have been in talks about liberating Navalny in a prisoner trade when he died.
Over a decade of opposing the Kremlin, the charismatic opposition chief drew tens of hundreds to anti-government avenue demonstrations.
He almost died in 2020 after being poisoned on a marketing campaign journey to Siberia forward of regional elections.
An investigation by Navalny’s staff, Western and Russian media shops related the assassination try and Russian FSB brokers.
Most of his former allies, together with his spouse Navalnaya who has pledged to proceed his work, reside in exile.
Source: www.anews.com.tr