PETUSHKI, Russia: A Russian court on Thursday put three lawyers who used to represent the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny on trial over \u201cextremism\u201d charges.
\nNavalny died in unclear circumstances in an Arctic prison colony in February, where he was serving a 19-year sentence for leading an \u201cextremist\u201d organization.
\nSince his death, Russian authorities have escalated a campaign against the Kremlin critic\u2019s backers, allies and family \u2014 arresting journalists who covered his court hearings and adding his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, to a \u201cterrorists and extremists\u201d blacklist.
\nThe trial of three of his former lawyers \u2014 Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin \u2014 opened Thursday in a court in the Vladimir region east of Moscow, AFP journalists in the courtroom reported.
\nThe three stood in a metal cage for defendants at the start of the hearing, before the judge granted the prosecution\u2019s request to move the session behind closed doors, ejecting public spectators and journalists from the hall.
\nArrested in October 2023, the trio are accused of participating in an \u201cextremist\u201d organization, charges which carry a maximum of six years.
\nInvestigators say they passed messages between Navalny and his associates in the outside world, helping the Kremlin critic continue his outlawed political activity from behind bars.
\nAt the time, Navalny\u2019s team alleged the arrest of the lawyers was an attempt to isolate Navalny even further in prison, where he spent most of the time in solitary confinement.
\nAt a pre-trial hearing, Sergunin pleaded guilty, independent media reported, while Kobzev and Liptser rejected the charges.
\nThe Kremlin has rejected accusations from Navalny\u2019s allies that President Vladimir Putin ordered him killed in jail.
\nThe West and Moscow were in talks about freeing Navalny in a prisoner exchange when he died.
\nOver a decade of opposing the Kremlin, the charismatic opposition leader drew tens of thousands to anti-government street demonstrations.
\nHe nearly died in 2020 after being poisoned on a campaign trip to Siberia ahead of regional elections.
\nAn investigation by Navalny\u2019s team, Western and Russian media outlets connected the assassination attempt to Russian FSB agents.
\nMost of his former allies, including his wife Navalnaya who has pledged to continue his work, live in exile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PETUSHKI, Russia: A Russian court on Thursday put three lawyers who used to represent the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny on trial over \u201cextremism\u201d charges. Navalny died in unclear circumstances in an Arctic prison colony in February, where he was serving a 19-year sentence for leading an \u201cextremist\u201d organization. Since his death, Russian authorities have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-430786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n