The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) condemns the conviction and sentencing of Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser, and Igor Sergunin to prison terms ranging from three and a half to five and a half years by the Petushinsky District Court in the Vladimir region. The ICJ calls for the quashing of the conviction and their immediate release.
The three defendants had served as the defence lawyers of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in custody on 16 February 2024 in a penal colony under suspicious circumstances.
Their conviction under Article 282.1(2) of the Russian Criminal Code for alleged participation in an extremist organization followed an unfair trial based on spurious charges, in violation of their right to a fair trial and to practice their legal profession.
The actions against them constitute another in a series of attacks against the independent legal profession in the Russian Federation.
“The Russian authorities must end the practice of criminalising the critical work of lawyers and prosecuting them for carrying out their professional duties and ensure that all legal professionals can work independently,” said Temur Shakirov, Director (ad interim) of the ICJ Europe and Central Asia Programme. “In addition to quashing the conviction of these three lawyers, the authorities should refrain from further harassment, intimidation, and persecution of lawyers and respect their role in upholding the right to legal defence.” he added.
The three lawyers were arrested in October 2023, subjected to apparently arbitrary house searches, and subsequently placed under pretrial detention. Russian investigative authorities accused them of transmitting messages from Navalny from prison to third parties, alleging that this facilitated the activities of an organization designated as “extremist” by the Russian government. The trial was conducted behind closed doors, in contravention of the right to public trial required by Russia’s international legal obligations and its domestic law and raising serious concerns about the fairness and transparency of the proceedings.
On 17 January 2025, the court sentenced Vadim Kobzev to five-and-a-half years of imprisonment, Alexei Liptser to five years of imprisonment, and Igor Sergunin to three-and – half-years of imprisonment. The lawyers have been condemned to serve their terms in a general-regime penal colony and have been banned from practicing law for three years following their release.
This case is part of a broader pattern of persecution against independent lawyers in Russia. The conviction of Navalny’s defence lawyers follows a longstanding trend of harassment, disbarment, and criminal prosecution of legal professionals who take on politically sensitive cases in Russia. Such persecution has a chilling effect on the legal profession, deterring lawyers from providing independent legal defence, particularly in cases involving human rights or political dissent.
Background:
The ICJ has previously condemned the Russian government’s escalating attacks on lawyers and called for an end to reprisals against legal professionals.
These actions of the Russian justice authorities as well as the closed-door nature of the trial contravene Articles 9, 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to liberty and fair trial, including effective legal representation.
The ICJ recalls that under the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, States must ensure that lawyers are able to perform their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment, or improper interference. Lawyers must not be identified with their clients or their clients’ causes. The arbitrary detention and prosecution of these three lawyers for carrying out their professional duties blatantly violate these well-established principles.