Four Russian journalists were sentenced to 5.5 years in prison on Tuesday due to “extremism” allegations concerning their work with the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s organizations, according to the independent news outlet SOTAvision.
Antonina Favorskaya, Artyom Kriger, Konstantin Gabov, and Sergei Karelin were arrested last year for allegedly collecting material and producing videos for Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and the NavalnyLIVE YouTube channel. All four have insisted on their innocence, asserting that their prosecution stems from their roles as journalists.
The Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow declared the journalists guilty of “participating in an extremist community” after conducting a closed trial, as reported by SOTAvision from the courtroom on Tuesday.
In addition to their prison sentences, the court imposed a three-year prohibition on administering websites.
Prosecutors had previously sought a sentence of five years and 11 months for each journalist.
SOTAvision, the employer of Favorskaya and Kriger, has consistently refuted the accusations, stating that neither worked for Navalny’s organizations.
At 35 years old, Favorskaya had reported on Navalny’s court proceedings and filmed the last known footage of the Kremlin critic before he passed away on February 16, 2024, in an Arctic penal colony while serving a 19-year sentence for “extremism,” under suspicious circumstances.
Favorskaya later mentioned that she faced persecution for “helping to organize” Navalny’s funeral, while Kriger, 24, was charged for conducting street interviews, according to SOTAvision.
Gabov, 38, is said to have worked with Reuters, as well as the Russian television networks Moskva 24 and MIR, in addition to the Belarusian news agency Belsat. Karelin, 42, has contributed to the Associated Press.
In 2021, Russian authorities categorized Navalny’s activist and political organizations, including FBK, as “extremist,” exposing their employees, volunteers, and supporters to the threat of criminal charges.
In January, three former lawyers for Navalny were also sentenced to prison terms of up to five and a half years on similar “extremist activity” charges.
