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4 journalists have been convicted of extremism by a Russian courtroom after they have been accused of working for an anti-corruption group based by the late Alexei Navalny.

Navalny was President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic and relentlessly campaigned in opposition to official corruption in Russia.

Antonina Favorskaya, Kostantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artyom Kriger have been discovered responsible of involvement with a gaggle that had been labelled as extremist.

All 4 maintained their innocence, arguing they have been being prosecuted for doing their jobs as journalists.

The courtroom in Moscow sentenced them to five-and-a-half years in jail every.

The closed-door trial was a part of a crackdown on dissent that has intensified after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Who’re the journalists?

Favorskaya and Kriger labored with SotaVision, an impartial Russian information outlet that covers protests and political trials.

Gabov is a contract producer who has labored for a number of organisations, together with Reuters.

Karelin, a contract video journalist, has finished work for Western media retailers, together with the Related Press.

What have been they accused of?

All 4 journalists have been accused of working with Navalny’s Basis for Combating Corruption, which was designated as extremist and outlawed in 2021 in a transfer broadly seen as politically motivated.

Navalny died in February 2024 in an Arctic penal colony whereas serving a 19-year sentence on quite a lot of expenses, together with working an extremist group. He at all times rejected the fees as politically motivated.