October 17, 2023

Repression Impacts Lawyers


Repression Impacts Lawyers
Alexei Navalny in court in Moscow, February 20, 2021. Evgeny Feldman, Wikimedia Commons.

Vadim Kobzev, Alexey Liptser, and Igor Sergunin, all of whom have previously defended the opposition politician Alexei Navalny in court, were placed in pre-trial detention. The lawyers have been charged with being part of an "extremist community," a criminal offense that carries a prison sentence of up to six years.

Kobzev was apprehended in Kovrov, where he was expected to attend proceedings related to two of Navalny's claims against the nearby prison where Navalny is serving his sentence. Navalny received news of the arrests during the trial.

"The situation appears reminiscent of Soviet-era repression, with not only political activists facing persecution and imprisonment but also their legal representatives," said Navalny.

The charges against the lawyers stem from letters allegedly sent by Alexei Navalny from his place of detention. This information is derived from case material excerpts published by Ivan Zhdanov, a key figure in Navalny's anti-corruption foundation, FBK.

Authorities assert that Kobzev, Liptser, and Sergunin, by leveraging their legal roles to access Correctional Colony № 6, where Navalny is incarcerated, facilitated the regular transmission of information between FBK and Navalny's associates. This purportedly allowed them to "continue to perform the functions of leaders and facilitators of the extremist community by devising, preparing, facilitating, and engaging in extremist activities."

Perviy Otdel ("The First Department"), a Russian human rights organization, has issued an open appeal to halt the state pressure on lawyers. The statement emphasizes that "defense is not collaboration" and underscores that lawyers are not co-conspirators but rather providers of legal defense, a right enshrined in the Russian Constitution. This appeal has garnered support from over a thousand individuals and organizations.

Tatyana Felgengauer, a Russian journalist, had previously voiced concerns that the authorities in Russia were targeting lawyers. She argued that the authorities' objective is to dismantle the independent legal profession, akin to what transpired in Belarus. From 2020 to 2023, 550 lawyers in Belarus were compelled to cease their legal work due to repression imposed by the Lukashenko regime.

You Might Also Like

Undesirable News
  • June 28, 2023

Undesirable News

The Russian Prosecutor General's has declared Novaya Gazeta Europe "undesirable" due to its independent reporting.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955