Cliff Notes
- Four Russian journalists have been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for allegedly belonging to an extremist group linked to Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.
- The trial, held in secret since October, concluded with all defendants denying the charges, which included creating banned content for a YouTube channel.
- Navalny, a prominent critic of the Russian government who died in custody in February 2024, has led to increasing pressure on journalists as the Kremlin seeks to suppress dissent.
Russian journalists accused of working with Navalny jailed for more than five years each
Four Russian journalists accused of working with the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny have been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison each.
The trial of Antonina Favorskaya, Sergei Karelin, Konstantin Gabov, and Artem Kriger on charges of belonging to an extremist group has been held behind closed doors in a court in Moscow since October. All four denied the charges.
Prosecutors accused them of creating materials for Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) YouTube channel, which is banned in Russia as a “foreign agent” and an extremist organisation.
They had asked for jail terms of five years and 11 months for each of the defendants.
At a court in Moscow on Tuesday, the four journalists were found guilty and were jailed for five-and-a-half years each.
Ms Favorskaya recorded the last video of Navalny taking part in a court hearing the day before he died.
At an earlier court appearance, she said she was being prosecuted for a story she did on abuse Navalny faced behind bars.
In a closing statement published by an independent newspaper, Mr Gabov said: “I understand perfectly well […] what kind of country I live in. Independent journalism is equated to extremism.”
Opposition leader Navalny, who died in mysterious circumstances in an Arctic penal colony in February last year, was the most prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He had spent years campaigning against the Putin regime and corruption in the country’s elite and led major anti-Kremlin protests.
Navalny was serving a 19-year jail term on corruption and extremism charges, which he denied, when he died.
Western leaders, Navalny’s allies and his widow accused the Kremlin of having him killed, which Russia denies.
Pressure has been growing on domestic and foreign reporters since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine in 2022, as Moscow has sought to silence criticism of its invasion.
Almost 40 journalists and media workers are currently in detention in Russia, according to the international press freedom group Reporters Without Borders.
Additional sources
Russian journalists accused of working with Alexei Navalny jailed for more than five years each – Sky News
Russian journalists jailed for more than 5 years over alleged Navalny ties – Al Jazzera
Russia jails four journalists for alleged links to Alexei Navalny anti-corruption group – The Guardian