Russian journalists accused of working with Alexei 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, arguing they were being prosecuted for doing their job as journalists.

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 jailed for five-and-a-half years each.

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Mr Kriger said after the verdict: “Don’t despair guys, sooner or later it will end and those who delivered the sentence will go behind bars.”

Supporters gathered in the court building chanted and applauded as the journalists were led out of the courtroom.

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.

Speaking to reporters from the defendants’ cage before today’s verdict, she also said she was being punished for helping with Navalny’s funeral arrangements.

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.

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Ms Favorskaya and Mr Kriger worked with SotaVision, an independent Russian news outlet that covers protests and political trials.

Mr Gabov is a freelance producer who has worked for organisations including Reuters. Mr Karelin, a freelance video journalist, has worked for Western media outlets including The Associated Press.

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.