4 Russian journalists jailed for alleged links with Alexei Navalny

Antonina Favorskaya, Konstantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artyom Kriger were found guilty of working for the anti-corruption organization of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, deemed “extremist” by the Kremlin. All maintained their innocence, claiming that they were being prosecuted for doing their job as journalists.

The four media workers were sentenced to five years and six months in prison, a verdict handed down by Judge Natalia Borissenkova. “Everyone will appeal,” Ivan Novikov, Artiom Krieger’s lawyer, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

According to Elena Cheremetieva, Krieger’s other lawyer, the verdict was “illegal and unjust”. Irina Birioukova, defending Konstantin Gabov, added that “there is no proof that they committed any crime”. According to the Meduza website, Mr. Krieger declared at the reading of the verdict: “Everything will be fine, everything will change! Those who condemned me will be sitting here in my place.”

“You are the pride of Russia”, “you are the best”, shouted people who had come to support the detainees in the courtroom. Some of them shouted slogans and applauded the journalists as they were led out of the courtroom.

This sentence is part of a crackdown on voices critical of the Kremlin, intensified since the dispatch of Russian troops to Ukraine in February 2022. Independent journalists and human rights activists are the main targets. Several Russian opponents have recently been sentenced to long prison terms, while others have been forced to flee the country.

The most famous case of repression is that of Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s number-one opponent. A fervent campaigner against corruption, Mr. Navalny died in mysterious circumstances in an Arctic penal colony in February 2024.

The four journalists were arrested last spring and summer, and subsequently tried behind closed doors.

Artiom Krieger worked for SOTAvision, an independent Russian news organization. Antonina Kravtsova regularly covered Alexei Navalny’s trials for this media outlet. Ms. Kravtsova, who published under the name Antonina Favorskaya, was responsible for the last video showing Alexei Navalny still alive during a court hearing on the eve of his death.

During a court appearance, the journalist had explained that she was being targeted by the state because of an article she had written about the abuse suffered by Navalny in prison and for her help in organizing his funeral. “Remember, the darkness that surrounds us will not last forever. There is always hope,” she told reporters before the start of her trial.

Reporters Sergei Karelin and Konstantin Gabov were accused of producing videos for Navalny’s team. The former collaborated with the Reuters news agency and the latter with the Associated Press.

Some European diplomats attended the court, reported an AFP journalist. German diplomats reacted by saying that freedom of the press “is worth nothing” in Russia, where “journalists are thrown into prison”.