A Russian court sentenced four extremism journalists for working for an anti-corruption group founded by the late leader of the opposition Alexei Navalny and condemned them each to 5 and a half in prison.
Antonina Favorskaya, Kostanin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artyom Kriger were found guilty of participation in a group that had been labeled as an extremist.
All four had maintained their innocence, arguing that they were prosecuted for doing their job as journalists.
Favorskaya and Kriger worked with Sotavision, an independent Russian media which covers demonstrations and political trials.
Gabov is an independent producer who has worked for several organizations, including Reuters.
Karelin, independent video journalist, did work for the Western media, including the Associated Press.
The four journalists were accused of working with the Navalny Foundation to fight corruption, which was designated as extremist and prohibited in 2021 in a decision widely considered politically motivated.
Navalny was the fiercest and most eminent of President Vladimir Putin and campaigned tirelessly against official corruption in Russia.
He died in February 2024 in a criminal colony of the Arctic when he served a 19 -year sentence on a certain number of accusations, in particular by leading an extremist group, which he had rejected as politically motivated.
Favorskaya said during an appearance in previous justice open to the public that she had been pursued for a story she had made on the mistreatment of Navalny in front of bars.
Addressing the journalists of the defendant cage before the verdict, she also said that she had been punished for helping to organize the navalny funeral.
Gabov, in a closing statement prepared for the court published by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, said that the accusations against him were baseless and that the accusation had not proven.
“I understand perfectly well … In what kind of country I live. Throughout history, Russia has never been different, there is nothing new in the current situation,” Gabov said in the press release. “Independent journalism is assimilated to extremism.”
In a statement that Karelin prepared for his closing arguments which were also published by Novaya Gazeta, he said that he had agreed to do street interviews for popular politics, a YouTube channel founded by Navalny partners, while trying to support his wife and a young child.
He stressed that the chain was not prohibited as an extremist and had done nothing illegal.
ADVERTISEMENT“Remorse are considered an attenuating circumstance. It is the criminals who need to have remorse for what they have done. But I am in prison for my work, for the honest and impartial attitude towards journalism, for the love of my family and my country,” he wrote in a separate speech for the court which was also published by the point of sale.
Kriger, in a closing declaration published by Sotavision, said that he had been imprisoned and added to the register of Russian financial intelligence extremists “only because I conscientiously exercised my professional functions as an honest, incorruptible and independent journalist for 4 and a half years.”
“Do not despair the guys, sooner or later, it will end and those who pronounced the sentence will go behind bars,” said Kriger after the verdict.
The supporters who gathered in the courtyard of the Court sang and applauded while the four journalists were taken out of the courtroom after the verdict.
ADVERTISEMENTJournalists' lawyers said they would call on the verdict, that Kriger's lawyer, Yelena Sheremetyeva, described as “illegal, unfair”.
“The profession of a journalist in itself is not extremism,” said Irina Biryukova. “And on the basis of available cases documents, I would say that at our opinion, there is no evidence that the guys have committed crimes, or even minor offenses.”
She said the four “hold” and “were happy that so many people came”.
The closed -door trial was part of a repression of the dissent which reached an unprecedented scale after Moscow launched its large -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
ADVERTISEMENTThe authorities have targeted opposition figures, independent journalists, rights activists and ordinary Russians criticizing the Kremlin with prosecution, imprisoning hundreds and inciting thousands of people to flee the country.
The Russian human rights memorial has appointed the four as political prisoners, among more than 900 other detainees in the country.
