Russia on Wednesday opened the trial of four independent journalists accused of helping the banned organizations of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The Moscow trial, which the judge ordered to be held behind closed doors, comes as the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissent has forced the vast majority of independent media into exile.
It also comes seven months after Navalny – President Vladimir Putin’s main opponent – died in an Arctic prison under circumstances that authorities have not fully explained.
Russia banned Navalny’s organizations as “extremist” weeks before launching its Ukraine offensive. Even since Navalny’s death, publicly sympathizing with him could lead to a prison sentence.
Journalists Antonina Kravtsova, Konstantin Gabov, Sergei Karelin and Artem Kriger face a prison sentence of up to six years on charges of “participation in an extremist group.”
The four – most of whom are video reporters – were held in a glass cage for defendants. They have been in custody since their arrest in March and April.
Judge Natalia Borisenkova ordered the trial to take place behind closed doors, a practice now common in Russia.
“Remember that the darkness around us is not forever. There is always hope,” Kravtsova, a 34-year-old photographer who worked for the independent SOTAvision, said before the trial.
She was the first of the group to be arrested, hours after filming people laying flowers on Navalny’s grave in Moscow.
For about two years she covered the opposition leader’s various trials, filming his last appearance via video link in court just two days before his death.
In the footage, Navalny appeared cheerful and joking with the judge.
– ‘Just cameramen’ –
Three of Navalny’s former lawyers were tried in September, also on charges of “extremism.”
In that case, investigators say the men exchanged messages between Navalny and his associates during his captivity, allowing the activist to continue his political activities behind bars.
Journalists Gabov and Karelin – both video correspondents who have worked for foreign media – were arrested a month after Kravtsova. Authorities accused them of taking photos and video for Navalny’s social media channels.
Karelin, who also has Israeli nationality, was arrested while traveling in northern Russia.
The arrest shocked his family. “They’re just cameramen,” his sister, architect Olga Karelina, told AFP.
She said people are “scared” to come and support the journalists in court.
– ‘Don’t play with fate’ –
Kriger – the youngest of the group – has reported on political processes and protests for SOTAvision.
Speaking to reporters, he urged people to leave Russia before the trial began.
‘Don’t play with fate. Leave the Russian Federation,” he said. “Anyone can go to jail on any charge.”
Kriger’s uncle, Mikhail Krieger, is serving a seven-year prison sentence for what his supporters say is retaliation for his opposition to the offensive in Ukraine.
Kriger also criticized the judge for ordering the trial to be closed to the public.
“That’s what they do in some kind of totalitarian regimes… Why do we have to go back to archaism and the past?”
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