In a conspicuous move against the freedom of the legal profession in Russia, three lawyers representing Alexei Navalny, a prominent Russian dissident and critic, were arrested on charges of participating in an extremist group allegedly led by Navalny. The lawyers – Vadim Kobzev, Igor Segunin, and Alexei Lipster – were taken into custody following raids of their residences on Friday.
Kobzev, Segunin, and Lipster have been staunch advocates for Navalny in his numerous legal struggles, with Kobzev serving as his counsel since 2010. After searches of their homes and subsequent arrests, the lawyers were brought to Basmanny Court in Moscow. According to information released by Navalny’s ally Ivan Zhdanov, they were accused of misusing their status as lawyers to gain access to the “correctional institution” where Navalny is held.
The lawyers were said to have ensured the regular transfer of information between the leaders and participants of the “extremist community.” Navalny was depicted as the “leader and manager” in “planning, preparing, creating conditions, and committing extremist crimes.”
Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, strongly condemned the arrests as a clear attempt to prevent Navalny from receiving legal assistance and a chilling tactic aimed at intimidating the entire legal community in Russia.
Yarmysh said, “The arrest of Navalny’s lawyers is essentially a ban on providing legal assistance to Alexei himself and an act of intimidation of the entire legal community. Previously, this was unthinkable even by the standards of Putin’s state, but today there is even less of the “state” and “law” left in Russia.”
Navalny, detained since January 2021, has faced numerous convictions, and most recently received a nineteen-year sentence on extremism charges in August 2023. His appeal against this verdict was rejected by the Moscow City Court on September 27, 2023. He is due to be moved to a special security penal colony.
During Navalny’s detention, his lawyers will no longer be able to represent him. In a disturbing development for Russia’s legal community, all three will remain in detention pending investigation and trial.