Petushki, Russia—— Three lawyers who represented late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were jailed in Russia on Friday as part of the Kremlin's crackdown on dissent reaching levels not seen since the Soviet era. To an unprecedented extent.

Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser were sentenced to 3 1/2 to 5 years in prison by a court in the town of Petushki, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Moscow. They were arrested in October 2023 on suspicion of involvement in extremist groups as authorities considered Navalny's network.

The case is widely seen as a way to put more pressure on the opposition and prevent defense lawyers from taking on political cases.

At the time, Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence for multiple criminal convictions, including extremism. He died in a Russian prisoner of war camp in February 2023.

"We are on trial for spreading Navalny's ideas to others," Kobzev said in his final statement in court on January 10, the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported.

Navalny's network is considered an extremist group following a 2021 ruling that declared his organization - the Anti-Corruption Foundation and Network of Regional Offices - an extremist group.

The ruling, which Kremlin critics denounced as politically motivated and aimed at stifling Navalny's activities, opens up anyone associated with the groups to prosecution.

Authorities accuse the lawyer of using his position to pass information about him to his team, according to Navalny's allies.

Navalny, an anti-corruption activist and outspoken opponent of President Vladimir Putin, was arrested in 2021 after returning from Germany where he was recovering from a nerve agent poisoning he blamed Kremlin. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.

After two trials, his sentence was extended to 19 years. He and his allies say the charges are politically motivated and accuse the Kremlin of trying to sentence him to life in prison.

In December 2023, Navalny was transferred from a penal colony in the Vladimir region east of Moscow to a penal colony above the Arctic Circle, where he died in February at the age of 47. The cause of death is still unknown . His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, and members of his team claimed that he was killed on orders from the Kremlin. Officials deny the allegation.

Two other Navalny lawyers, Olga Mikhailova and Alexander Fedulov, are also on the wanted list but no longer live in Russia. Mikhailova, who has defended Navalny for a decade, said she was accused in absentia of extremism.

Human rights advocates at Memorial, Russia's most prominent human rights organization that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, said Kobzev, Liptzer and Sergunin had been considered political prisoners. The group demanded their immediate release.