Russia detains three lawyers for imprisoned Navalny after raids

Tallinn: Russian authorities on Friday detained three lawyers representing imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny after searching their homes, the politician’s allies said.

The move was an attempt to “completely isolate Navalny,” his ally Ivan Zhdanov said on social media. Navalny, 47, has been behind bars since January 2021, serving a 19-year prison sentence but has been able to get messages out regularly and keep up with the news. The raids targeting Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser are part of a criminal case on charges of participating in an extremist group, Zhdanov said. All three were detained after the search, apparently as suspects in the case, Navalny’s team said on Telegram.

Independent Russian media also reported a raid at a law firm that employs another of Navalny’s lawyers, Olga Mikhailova.

According to reports, she is currently not in Russia. Navalny, currently in Penal Colony No. 6 in the Vladimir region east of Moscow, is due to be transferred to a “special security” penal colony, a facility with the highest security level in the Russian penitentiary system, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh told The Associated Press.

“If he won’t have access to lawyers, he will end up in complete isolation, the kind no one can really even imagine,” she said.