Photo: Mediazona

The trial of three lawyers who represented the late opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been moved behind closed doors by a judge in the Vladimir region town of Petushki, citing the potential for provocations from Navalny’s allies abroad, Russian independent media outlet Mediazona reported on Thursday.

The three lawyers — Vadim Kobzev, Alexey Liptser, and Igor Sergunin — who have been in pretrial detention since October last year, have been charged with “participation in an extremist community”, over their work for Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was named an “extremist” by the Russian authorities in 2021 before being dissolved.

If found guilty, the three men could face up to six years in prison.

Judge Yulia Shilova moved the trial behind closed doors citing a letter from Russia’s Centre for Combating Extremism, known as Centre E, which warned that employees of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) based outside Russia were engaging in “provocations” to influence witnesses and other aspects of the trial, Mediazona reported.

Defence attorneys for Navalny’s lawyers challenged the judge’s decision, arguing that prosecutors wanted to hide their evidence from journalists. “The prosecution immediately shows you that they have no evidence. The court cannot grant such a motion,” Mediazona cited Liptser’s defence attorney, Rustam Zhane, as saying.

Investigators allege that the lawyers used their access to Navalny to deliver letters written in prison by the late opposition leader to his associates, thus enabling him to continue “leading an extremist community”.

Of the three, only Kobzev was still Navalny’s lawyer at the time of his death, while the others no longer worked with the politician. At a pre-trial hearing, Sergunin pleaded guilty, according to independent media reports, while Kobzev and Liptser rejected the charges.