Four journalists linked to the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny were sentenced to spend five years and six months in a penal colony on Tuesday, after they were accused of working for a banned organization run by the Kremlin critic, Russian state media TASS has reported.
The reporters – Antonina Favorskaya, Sergei Karelin, Konstantin Gabov and Artem Kriger – have been on trial behind closed doors since October on charges, which they deny, of belonging to an “extremist” group established by Navalny in 2011.
Prosecutors claimed the four had produced material for the YouTube channel of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), according to Reuters, which is prohibited under the country’s “foreign agents law.” Amnesty International has warned that the “repressive” legislation is an “attack on freedom of association” in Russia, where Moscow has increasingly attempted to stifle journalists under censorship laws.
In February, mourners gathered at Navalny’s graveside in the Russian capital to mark the first anniversary of his death in prison. Dozens of people were detained at memorials, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other rights groups.
Over his storied political career, Navalny generated some of the largest anti-government demonstrations in recent years, and unfurled corruption at Russia’s highest seat of power, under the FBK.
Navalny died suddenly at the age of 47 on February 16, 2024, while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges he denied. At the time, Russia’s prison service claimed he “felt unwell after a walk.” But Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, and former US President Joe Biden have long held Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible for his death. Moscow has rebuffed those allegations.
Authorities in Russia have since tried to “erase Navalny’s political legacy” through their “extensive arsenal of repressive tools,” according to HRW – which called the arrests on the first anniversary of his death “just the tip of the iceberg in the Kremlin’s continued crackdown on his supporters.”