In a deeply troubling development, a Russian court has sentenced three lawyers who defended the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny to lengthy prison terms. Their alleged crime? Relaying messages from Navalny to the outside world during his incarceration. The verdicts, handed down amid an intensifying crackdown on dissent during Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, have alarmed human rights groups. They fear this marks a chilling escalation in the Kremlin’s campaign to stamp out the last vestiges of opposition.
The lawyers – Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser, and Igor Sergunin – were found guilty by a court in the town of Petushki of participating in an “extremist organization.” Kobzev, the most prominent member of Navalny’s legal team, received a draconian five-and-a-half-year sentence. Liptser was given five years, while Sergunin was sentenced to three and a half years behind bars.
Imprisoned for Upholding Attorney-Client Privilege
What makes these sentences so outrageous is that the trio’s only “crime” was doing what lawyers are ethically bound to do – facilitating communication between their client and the outside world. Kobzev, Liptser, and Sergunin were among the few people still able to visit Navalny in prison as he served a politically motivated 19-year sentence. They acted as vital conduits, transmitting messages from the jailed dissident that his team would then share on social media.
We are on trial for passing Navalny’s thoughts to other people.
– Vadim Kobzev, Navalny’s lawyer, speaking in court
Relaying letters and messages through lawyers is standard practice in Russian prisons, as it is in most countries. Attorney-client privilege exists to protect the right of the accused to mount a proper defense and communicate freely with counsel. By targeting Navalny’s lawyers for this routine activity, the Russian authorities have effectively criminalized a core tenet of the legal profession.
International Condemnation
The cruel sentences swiftly drew outrage from Western governments. U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller slammed the verdicts as “yet another example of the persecution of defense lawyers by the Kremlin in its effort to undermine human rights, subvert the rule of law and suppress dissent.” France called it an “act of intimidation against the legal profession,” while Germany accused Russia of harshly persecuting “even those meant to defend others before the law.”
Echoes of Stalinist Repression
The imprisoned lawyers have drawn parallels between their persecution and the darkest days of Russian history. During the closed-door trial, Kobzev compared the current crackdown to the mass repression under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in the 1930s. “Eighty years have passed,” he noted bleakly, “and in the Petushki court, people are once again on trial for discrediting officials and the state agencies.”
Defending Dissidents Now “Essentially Outlawed”
Human rights defenders warn that the targeting of Navalny’s lawyers marks a dangerous new phase in the Kremlin’s war on dissent. “The authorities are now essentially outlawing the defense of politically persecuted people,” said the OVD rights group, which monitors political repression in Russia. While representing opposition figures is still technically allowed, it is becoming increasingly perilous. This, OVD fears, “risks destroying what little is left of the rule of law” in Russia.
The sentencing of Navalny’s lawyers is a sobering reminder of the lengths the Putin regime will go to quash opposition. Having already jailed or exiled nearly all prominent dissenting voices, the Kremlin now appears to be taking aim at the legal representatives who defend them. It’s a chilling prospect that bodes ill for the future of human rights, due process, and the rule of law in Russia. As the state’s crackdown grows ever more draconian, one urgent question looms: Who will defend the defenders?
