Three defense lawyers for Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who died in custody in 2024, have been sentenced in Russia on Friday to between 3.5 and 5.5 years in prison.
Germany’s government has now condemned the move and called for their release.
Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin were found guilty of participating in an “extremist organisation” after a closed-door trial and given jail terms of between three and a half and five and a half years.
Speaking at a press conference, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, Kathrin Deschauer said the case showed that Russia’s “system of repression has reached another sad low point”.
“Today’s shocking verdict comes as no surprise: Even those meant to defend others before the law face harsh persecution,” human rights commissioner Luise Amtsberg said on the Bluesky social network, adding that the three “must be freed”.
“The politically motivated trials against Navalny and against countless other critics… show how brutally the Russian government and justice system act against those who think differently”.
Navalny died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony last February. He had also been convicted of extremism and other charges, all of which he denied.
His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, called for the lawyers to be freed “immediately.” On her X account, she said Kobzev, Liptser and Sergunin are “political prisoners and should be freed immediately.”
The case was widely seen as a way to increase pressure on the opposition and discourage defense lawyers from taking on political cases.
