Volkswacht Bodensee - Russia jails four journalists who covered Navalny

Navalny -- Putin's main opponent -- was declared an "extremist" by Russian authorities, a ruling that remains in force despite his death in an Arctic penal colony on February 16, 2024.

Moscow also banned Navalny's organisations as "extremist" shortly before launching its 2022 Ukraine offensive and has ruthlessly targeted those it deems to have links to him.

A judge sentenced the reporters -- Antonina Kravtsova, Konstantin Gabov, Sergei Karelin, and Artem Kriger -- who all covered Navalny to "five years and six months in a general-regime penal colony", an AFP journalist heard.

They were found guilty of "participating in an extremist group" after being arrested last year.

The trial proceeded behind closed doors at Moscow's Nagatinsky district court with only the sentencing open to the media, as has become typical for political cases in Russia amid its Ukraine offensive.

Around a hundred supporters, journalists and Western diplomats came to the court for the verdicts. Supporters cheered and clapped as the defendants were led in.

Since Navalny's still unexplained death in an Arctic prison last year, Russian authorities have heavily targeted his family and associates.

In January, three lawyers who had defended him in court were sentenced to several years in prison.

Moscow has also escalated its decade-long crackdown on independent media amid its military offensive on Ukraine.

Shortly after ordering troops into Ukraine in 2022, Moscow passed sweeping military censorship laws that ban criticism of its army, forcing most of the country's independent media to leave the country.

- 'Pay with my freedom' -

The journalists sentenced on Tuesday rejected the charges of being associated with an extremist group.

Kravtsova, 34, is a photographer who worked for the independent SOTAvision outlet and uses the pen name Antonina Favorskaya.

She had covered Navalny's trials for two years and filmed his last appearance via video-link in court just two days before his death.

Video correspondents Gabov and Karelin are accused of preparing photos and video material for Navalny's social media channels.

Both had worked at times with international outlets -- Gabov with Reuters and Karelin with the Associated Press and Deutsche Welle.

Kriger, 24, the youngest among the accused, covered political trials and protests for SOTAvision.

After the verdict, he said in court: "Everything will be fine, Everything will change. Those who sentenced me will be sitting here instead of me."

As he spoke a supporter shouted: "You are the pride of Russia!".

In their final statements, published by independent media outlets, the journalists slammed the case against them and the state of press freedom in Russia.

"Engaging in independent journalism is now equated with extremism," Gabov said in his last statement to the court, the Meduza site reported.

Kriger told the court: "I did not want to flee and be afraid, I wanted to insist that it was possible and necessary to do journalism in Russia," according to a transcript posted by SOTAVision.

"If I have to pay for that belief with my freedom or my life, I am willing to do it," he said.

E.Burkhard--VB