While in prison, Navalny passed messages to his lawyers to post on his social media channels.
Topics ranged from criticism of Russia’s military offensive on Ukraine to tongue-in-cheek dispatches of daily life behind bars.
Sergunin has pleaded guilty, independent media reported, while Kobzev and Liptser rejected the charges.
Kobzev was the most high-profile member of Navalny’s legal team defending him in court. He also released statements on Navalny’s health in prison.
In his final statement to the court, published by Novaya Gazeta, Kobzev said they were being prosecuted for “passing Navalny’s thoughts on to other people,” and compared the situation to Soviet-era repression under Joseph Stalin.
Prosecutors are demanding jail terms of at least five years for all three.
Amnesty International urged Russia to halt the “arbitrary prosecution”.
Another member of Navalny’s former legal team, Olga Mikhailova, who is in exile, wrote on Instagram that prosecutors are demanding “savage” sentences for lawyers who “honestly and professionally defended Navalny for many years”.
Navalny died in unclear circumstances in the prison colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence for leading an “extremist” organisation.
Russia has arrested journalists who covered his court hearings and added his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, to a “terrorists and extremists” blacklist.
Moscow in 2021 banned Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, known for investigations into the alleged corruption of Putin’s officials, labelling it an “extremist” organisation.
The Kremlin has rejected accusations from Navalny’s allies and widow that Putin ordered him killed in jail.
He nearly died in 2020 after being poisoned on a campaign trip to Siberia ahead of regional elections.
An investigation by Navalny’s team and Western and independent Russian media outlets connected the assassination attempt to agents from Russia’s FSB security service.
The West and Moscow were in talks about freeing Navalny in a prisoner exchange when he died. Several of his associates were later freed in the eventual deal.
© 2025 AFP
