Russia sentenced three defense lawyers on Friday Alexei Navalny Sentenced to several years in prison for conveying the late opposition leader's message from prison to the outside world.

The sentences were handed down during a massive crackdown Moscow's offensive against Ukraine Despite Navalny's unexplained death in an Arctic prison colony last February, Russia continues to seek to punish his associates.

Vadim Kobzev, Alexey Liptser and Igor Sergunin were found guilty by the Petushki town court of participating in " extremist organization" crime.

Kobzev, the most high-profile member of Navalny's legal team, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison, Liptzer to five years and Sergunin to three and a half years in prison.

Navalny’s exiled widow, Yulia NavalnayaCalling these lawyers "political prisoners, they should be released immediately."

They were almost the only people to visit Navalny in prison during his 19-year sentence.

Putin's main political rival, Navalny, communicates with the world through his lawyers, who deliver messages that his team then posts on social media. Passing letters and messages through lawyers is normal practice in Russian prisons.

The men were sentenced after a closed trial in the town about 72 miles east of Moscow, close to the Pokrov prison where Navalny was held before he was moved to a remote colony above the Arctic Circle and Died there.

"We are on trial for passing on Navalny's ideas to others," Kobzev told the court last week.

The court said the men "used their legal status during visits to the criminal Navalny... to ensure regular communications between members of the extremist community, including those wanted and hiding outside the Russian Federation, and Navalny information."

This allowed Navalny to continue "planning preparations and creating conditions for the commission of criminal activities of an extremist nature," the statement said.

Navalny denounced the arrest of the lawyer in October 2023 as "outrageous" and part of a campaign to further isolate him and jail him.

Days earlier, four independent journalists accused of helping Navalny were due to appear in court again and face up to six years in prison.

Navalny bravely returned to Russia on January 17, 2021, recovering from a near-fatal poison attack four years ago.

In a message to the outside world, Navalny denounced the Kremlin's offensive in Ukraine as "criminal" and told supporters "not to give up."

Just last week, Kobzev compared Moscow’s current crackdown on dissent to the mass repression of the Stalin era.

"Eight years have passed... and in the Petushki court, people are once again on trial for smearing officials and state institutions," he said in a speech published by Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

Although Russia is increasingly imprisoning its citizens for opposing the Kremlin, cases against the lawyers who defend these individuals remain few and far between.

The UIA International Bar Association warned that the trial raised questions about the future of the Russian legal profession.

"Advocating for clients, regardless of their political views or conduct, is a cornerstone of the rule of law and a universal principle enshrined in international legal standards," the organization said last month.

It said the trial "sets a dangerous precedent" that "could deter" lawyers from defending clients in sensitive cases.

International human rights groups and some Western countries slammed the verdict.

"Today is another low point for the already serious human rights situation in the Russian Federation," Dutch Foreign Minister Kaspar Wildkamp said on social media on Friday.

Navalny's team has accused prison authorities of secretly filming Navalny's meetings with his lawyers, which were supposed to remain confidential, and posting the obtained footage on social media.

Navalnaya said last week that Russia refused to remove her late husband from its list of terrorists and extremists.

She published a December letter from Russia's financial regulator Rosfinmonitoring to Navalny's mother, which said the late opposition leader remained under investigation for money laundering and "terrorist financing."

"Why does Putin need this? It's obviously not to prevent Alexei from opening a bank account," Navalnaya said. "Putin is doing this to scare you."