Russian prosecutors are looking for to sentence 3 attorneys who used to represent the late opposition activist Alexei Navalny to more than 5 years in prison each for extremism, the news outlet Novaya Gazetareported Tuesday.Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin were jailed in October 2023 on allegations of helping Navalny continue political activity from behind bars by passing messages in between him and his allies.Sergunin supposedly pleaded guilty while Kobzev and Liptser rejected the charges at a pre-trial hearing.
The judge overseeing the trial in the Vladimir region east of Moscow later on ruled to close the hearing to the public.State prosecutors requested that the judge sentence Kobzev to 5 years and 11 months in a medium-security penal colony, according to Novaya Gazeta.
He requested a jail sentence of 5 years and 10 months for Liptser and 5 years and 6 months for Sergunin.Prosecutors also asked the court to ban Kobzev, Lipster and Sergunin from providing legal services for 5 years.Novaya Gazeta did not indicate when the Petushinsky District Court is set up to provide a verdict.In addition to the three attorneys, 4 independent Russian reporters are on trial for extremism related to their supposed work for Navalnys team.Russian authorities prohibited Navalnys activist and political groups consisting of the Anti-Corruption Foundation as extremist in 2021, putting employees, volunteers and supporters at risk of criminal prosecution.Navalny, who was serving a 19-year extremism sentence, died under unclear scenarios at age 47 in an Arctic prison in February.Supporters implicated the authorities of murdering Navalny, while private investigators declared there were no indications of foul play in his death.
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