Four Russian journalists were convicted of a Moscow court for five and a half years each on Tuesday, after being considered guilty of working for the prohibited organization of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Antonina FavaSkaya, Sergei Karelin, Konstantin Gabov and Artem Kriger have been tried to closed doors since October on the charges, which they deny, of belonging to an extremist group.
Prosecutors said they created materials for the Youtube channel of the Navalny Anti -Corruption Foundation (FBK), which is prohibited in Russia for being considered a “foreign agent” and an extremist organization.
The Russian government has intensified pressure on Russian and foreign reporters since the beginning of its war in Ukraine.
Defenders of the accused journalists said the trial was intended to intimidate the press and punish reporters to do their work.
Navalny, the most prominent opponent of President Vladimir Putin, spent years denouncing corruption in the Russian elite.
He suddenly died in an Arctic Criminal Colony last year, while serving a long sentence on accusations of corruption and extremism, which he denied.
Despite the allegations of Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s wife, that he was murdered, the Russian Investigative Committee in 2024 told her that he had concluded that Navalny’s death was caused by a “combination of diseases.”
Kremlin also vehemently rejected the accusation of his supporters that Putin had murdered him.
Subsequently, US intelligence agencies determined that Putin probably did not order his death, according to the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press.
Before reading the sentences, the media was allowed to shorten the accused journalists briefly handcuffed behind a glass screen.
“Everything will be fine. I’m seeing how the dynamics are developing. I give this regime another year, a maximum of a year and a half,” said Kriger.
Karelin said, “I hope my daughter is proud of me.”
Neither the court nor the prosecutors responded to requests for comments.
Karelin and Gabov are freelancers who worked for various news organizations, including, respectively, AP and Reuters.
Guaraskaya and Kriger work for Sotavion, an independent vehicle that was also designated as a foreign agent. FavoSkaya recorded Navalny’s latest video participating in a court hearing a day before his death.
“Konstantin Gabov is a freelance journalist who, between 2022 and 2024, contributed occasionally to Reuters as a table producer, editing videos and writing report scripts. We have no evidence that the accusations against him are related to his freelance work at Reuters,” said a Reuters news agency spokesman.
“Reuters is deeply committed to press freedom and opposes any journalist’s arrest for doing their work. Journalists should be free to report news of public interest without fear of harassment or damage, wherever they are.”
The Associated Press did not immediately respond to a comment request.
Alexandra Ageeva, founder of Sotavision, who is listed by Russia as a foreign agent, said the sentences were expected.
“Huge prison sentences were applied to journalists who were simply doing their work. This is terrible,” said Ageva.
This content was originally published in Russia condemns journalists for connection with Alexei Navalny, Putin’s critic on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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