Russia: Special Rapporteur Appalled By Prison Sentences To Punish Navalny Lawyers

Geneva, 21 January 2025

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, today urged authorities to end the severe crackdown on the legal profession in Russia and stop endangering the lives and safety of lawyers.

“I call for the immediate release of lawyers Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser, and Igor Sergunin, and for the verdict against them to be annulled,” Katzarova said. “This week, when we mark the International Day of the Endangered Lawyer on 24 January, the Russian government continues reprisals against lawyers for carrying out their professional duties, such as this latest case of the lawyers defending late opposition politician Alexei Navalny.”

On 17 January 2025, Kobzev, Liptser, and Sergunin were sentenced on “extremism” charges, under part 2 of article 282.1 of the Russian Criminal Code, after a sham trial in the Petushki district court of Vladimir region.

The expert condemned the sentencing on “extremism” charges of the three lawyers. “This serves as a chilling warning to all lawyers considering taking on politically sensitive cases, especially those defending clients facing political persecution,” she said. “The term ‘extremism’ has no basis in international law, and constitutes a violation of human rights when it triggers criminal liability.”

There was no public information about the trial of Kobzev, Liptser and Sergunin, as such hearings are closed to the public. When the verdict was announced on 17 January 2025, the hearing was opened and about 50 people, including journalists and lawyers, were allowed to enter the courtroom. Five others, four of them journalists, were arbitrarily detained, apparently to prevent them from attending the hearing, and later released.

“The persecution of lawyers and journalists is part of an alarming pattern of targeted repression and State control that is silencing independent media and the legal profession throughout Russia,” Katzarova said.

In her 2024 report to the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur documented the continuing attacks on the legal profession in Russia. “Lawyers have been imprisoned, prosecuted, disbarred and intimidated simply for carrying out their professional duties,” she said.

“Widespread use of vague legal definitions and unpredictable, often abusive, interpretations, as well as closed trials, have allowed Russian authorities to misuse and instrumentalise counter-extremism, counter-terrorism and national security legislation to stifle critics, ban anti-war speech, imprison legitimate political opponents and punish and endanger their defence lawyers,” Katzarova said. “This practice must end.”

The Special Rapporteur has been calling for the release of the three lawyers since their detention in 2023. “Even more lawyers, including Alexandr Fedulov and Olga Mikhailova, two other former lawyers of Alexei Navalny, have had to flee the country and remain in exile facing similar charges,” she said.

“Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the number of lawyers convicted and imprisoned in Russia has reached an all-time high,” the Special Rapporteur said.

*The expert: Mariana Katzarova, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation

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