Moscow [Russia], January 18 : Three lawyers, who represented opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died last year in an Arctic prison, were found guilty by a Russian court of being part of an extremist group and sentenced for several years, CNN reported.
Igor Sergunin, Alexei Liptser and Vadim Kobzev were tried behind closed doors in Petushki and sentenced to three-and-a-half, five and five-and-a-half years respectively.
Prosecutors accused the lawyers of "using their status" to give letters written by Navalny during his time in prison to his associates, enabling him to continue to lead an "extremist organisation", CNN reported, citing independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
In February last year, Navalny died suddenly while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges he denied. According to Russian prison service, Navalny "felt unwell after a walk" and the Kremlin denied involvement in his death. However, many Western nations and allies of Navalny blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for his death.
Human rights groups said the sentencing of Navalny's lawyers demonstrates that Kremlin is carrying out crackdown on opposition to Putin's rule and war in Ukraine.
In a statement, Amnesty International said, "By targeting lawyers for merely doing their job, the Russian authorities are dismantling what remains of the right to legal defense and abusing what is a criminal justice system only in name."
The group called the sentencing a "shameful attempt to silence those who dared to defend Navalny" and demanded the unconditional release of lawyers, CNN reported.
The US condemned the sentencing of lawyers and said they were arrested for "simply doing their jobs." and called it yet another example of the prosecution of defence lawyers by the Kremlin.
In a statement, the US State Department said, "This is 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."
On Friday, Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, called the lawyers "political prisoners" and demanded their imeediate release.
The lawyers of Navalny were first arrested in 2023 on charges of being part of an "extremist organization." Amnesty had called it an "arbitrary designation" which the Kremlin applied to Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, CNN reported.
The lawyers join a string of Russians related to Navalny who have faced prosecution since the death of opposition leader. In April last year, two Russian journalists, Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin, were accused of creating content for Navalny's YouTube channel, which shares videos investigating corruption in the Kremlin that have received millions of views.
Opposition leader, Navalny was arrested after he returned to Russia in 2021. He arrived from Germany, where he had undergone treatment after being poisoned with Novichok. Navalny died just over a month before Putin was re-elected as Russia's President in March last year.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor