Four journalists who were accused of working for Kremlin foe Navalny are
convicted of extremism
[April 16, 2025]
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court on Tuesday convicted four
journalists of extremism for working for an anti-corruption group
founded by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny and sentenced them
to 5 1/2 years in prison each.
Antonina Favorskaya, Kostantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artyom Kriger
were found guilty of involvement with a group that had been labeled as
extremist. All four had maintained their innocence, arguing they were
being prosecuted for doing their jobs as journalists.
The closed-door trial was part of an unrelenting crackdown on dissent
that has reached an unprecedented scale after Moscow sent troops into
Ukraine in February 2022.
The authorities have targeted opposition figures, independent
journalists, rights activists and ordinary Russians critical of the
Kremlin with prosecution, jailing hundreds and prompting thousands to
flee the country.
Favorskaya and Kriger worked with SotaVision, an independent Russian
news outlet that covers protests and political trials. Gabov is a
freelance producer who has worked for multiple organizations, including
Reuters. Karelin, a freelance video journalist, has done work for
Western media outlets, including The Associated Press.
The four journalists were accused of working with Navalny’s Foundation
for Fighting Corruption, which was designated as extremist and outlawed
in 2021 in a move widely seen as politically motivated.
Navalny was President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest and most prominent foe
and relentlessly campaigned against official corruption in Russia.
Navalny died in February 2024 in an Arctic penal colony while serving a
19-year sentence on a number of charges, including running an extremist
group, which he had rejected as politically driven.
Favorskaya said at an earlier court appearance open to the public that
she was being prosecuted for a story she did on abuse Navalny faced
behind bars. Speaking to reporters from the defendants' cage before the
verdict, she also said she was punished for helping organize Navalny's
funeral.
Gabov, in a closing statement prepared for court that was published by
the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, said the accusations against
him were groundless and the prosecution failed to prove them.
“I understand perfectly well ... what kind of country I live in.
Throughout history, Russia has never been different, there is nothing
new in the current situation,” Gabov said in the statement. “Independent
journalism is equated to extremism.”
In a statement Karelin prepared for his closing arguments that also was
published by Novaya Gazeta, he said he had agreed to do street
interviews for Popular Politics, a YouTube channel founded by Navalny’s
associates, while trying to provide for his wife and a young child. He
stressed that the channel wasn’t outlawed as extremist and had done
nothing illegal.
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Russian journalists, from left, Konstantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin,
Artyom Kriger and Antonina Favorskaya, accused of working for a
group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei
Navalny, stand in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District
Court in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
“Remorse is considered to be a mitigating circumstance. It’s the
criminals who need to have remorse for what they did. But I am in
prison for my work, for the honest and impartial attitude to
journalism, FOR THE LOVE for my family and country,” he wrote in a
separate speech for court that also was published by the outlet, in
which he emphasized his feelings in capital letters.
Kriger, in a closing statement published by SotaVision, said he was
imprisoned and added to the Russian financial intelligence’s
registry of extremists and terrorists “only because I have
conscientiously carried out my professional duties as an honest,
incorruptible and independent journalist for 4 1/2 years.”
“Don't despair guys, sooner or later it will end and those who
delivered the sentence will go behind bars,” Kriger said after the
verdict.
Supporters who gathered in the court building chanted and applauded
as the four journalists were led out of the courtroom after the
verdict.
The journalists' lawyers said they would appeal the verdict, which
Kriger's attorney, Yelena Sheremetyeva, described as "illegal,
unfair.”
“The profession of a journalist in itself is not extremism,” said
Irina Biryukova. “And based on the case materials that are
available, I will say that in our opinion, there is no evidence that
the guys committed any crimes, or even minor offenses.”
She said the four “are holding up” and “were happy that so many
people came.”
The Russian human rights group Memorial designated all four as
political prisoners, among more than 900 others held in the country.
That number includes Mikhail Kriger, Artyom Kriger’s uncle, a
Moscow-based activist who was arrested in 2022 and is serving a
seven-year prison sentence.
Mikhail Kriger was convicted of justifying terrorism and inciting
hatred over Facebook comments in which he expressed a desire “to
hang” Putin.
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