Navalny’s lawyers charged with ‘extremism’ for ‘passing information’ to his associates and posting anti-war videos

Alexey Navalny’s lawyers have been charged with participating in an “extremist community” for transferring information from Navalny to his team, reports Anti-Corruption Foundation Director Ivan Zhdanov. Speaking live on the YouTube channel “Popular Politics,” Zhdanov read excerpts from the case file, though he didn’t specify who gave him the file.

According to these excerpts, lawyers Alexey Liptser, Igor Sergunin, and Vadim Kobzev were arrested on suspicion of participating in an extremist community,” “using their status to provide legal assistance” for that community, and “ensuring regular transfer of information between the leaders and participants of the extremist community.” The Russian authorities call Alexey Navalny’s organizations, including the Anti-Corruption Foundation, an “extremist community.”

According to Zhdanov, the case files list the leaders and participants of the “extremist” group as himself, Leonid Volkov, Georgy Alburov, Anna Biryukova, Dmitry Nizovtsev, Lyubov Sobol, Ruslan Shaveddinov, Maria Pevchikh, and Kira Yarmysh.

The case says that the participants of the “community,” “realizing their criminal intentions, aimed at committing crimes of extremist orientation, being outside the borders of the Russian Federation, carried out communication with Navalny, who is in prison at the specified addresses.” According to Zhdanov, the penal colony in question is Correctional Colony No. 2 in the town of Pokrov in Russia’s Vladimir region, where Navalny was located from the end of February 2021 until June 2022.

According to the investigation, the lawyers and “other unidentified persons” verbally passed information from Navalny to his associates. The Russian Investigative Committee considers the lawyers to have passed letters and other correspondence, “utilizing various electronic and mail communication channels for this purpose.”

The case files also say that the participants of the “extremist community” posted various videos on the “Popular Politics,” “Alexey Navalny,” and “Navalny Live” YouTube channels, as well as on Maria Pevchikh’s personal page. According to Zhdanov, the case mentions videos connected to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine:

• “Special broadcast. Women against the war. Putin strikes ‘humanitarian corridors’” March 8, 2022
• “Special broadcast. Russia under attack. Putin goes to kill” March 10, 2022
• “Is the end of the war near? Kadyrov in Mariupol. Who poisoned Abramovich?” March 29, 2022
• “Online with Volkov. What will Russia be like after the war?” April 3, 2022
• “Putin’s new offensive, oil and gas embargo, what’s going on in the Kremlin? April 12, 2022

Ivan Zhdanov questioned the claim that lawyers passed along this information, since all the videos in question were “based on events” and were recorded as a “quick reaction.” The criminal case against the lawyers was opened after Navalny was given 19 years in prison for “establishing an extremist community.”

The Investigative Committee file says that the investigators found the “community’s criminal activity” to span a period of time from March 2021 to August 2023.