The Second Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow rejected appeals against the sentence imposed on Alexei Navalny’s lawyers Vadim Kobzev and Alexei Liptser, who were convicted in a case on participation in an “extremist community.” A Mediazona correspondent reported this from the courtroom.
The defense asked the court to overturn the sentence and terminate the criminal case. Kobzev’s lawyer, Andrei Grivtsov, argued that the case should not have been heard by the Petushinsky District Court of the Vladimir Region and that evidence obtained through covert recordings of Navalny’s meetings with his lawyers, as well as correspondence taken from lawyers, was inadmissible because it violated attorney-client privilege.
“You cannot wiretap meetings between lawyers and their clients; this is a basic principle of the legal profession,” Andrei Grivtsov told the court.
According to the defense, the courts failed to consider mitigating circumstances in Kobzev’s case, including his family and his lengthy service in law enforcement. Grivtsov also described the sentence, which was close to the maximum for a person with no previous convictions, as excessively harsh.
Anna Stavitskaya, representing Liptser, said the judgment was effectively a copy of the indictment. She stated that, in her assessment, 215 of the ruling’s 234 pages reproduced the investigator’s text verbatim, even though Supreme Court guidance, she said, does not allow this. Stavitskaya also raised concerns about her client’s health: she said Liptser’s blood pressure reaches 140–150 every day, while he himself complained of worsening eyesight and constant headaches.
Lawyer Andrei Orlov noted that part of the accusations against Liptser had already been removed on appeal because he had been charged, among other things, over prison visits to IK-6 during a period when he was no longer visiting Navalny. However, the defense said this had no effect on the prison term. Liptser himself told the court that there had been enough violations to overturn the sentence and argued that, after he stopped visiting the colony, the court should have applied the note to the Criminal Code article on voluntary cessation of participation in the group.
Prosecutor Ponomaryov opposed the appeals. He said the lawyers should have understood how passing Navalny’s letters to his associates would be interpreted and maintained that the surveillance authorized against the politician himself had been lawful. In his view, the punishment complied with the law and all mitigating circumstances had already been taken into account.
Kobzev, Liptser and Igor Sergunin were arrested on October 13, 2023. Investigators said they passed Navalny’s letters from prison to his associates, which, according to the prosecution, allowed him to continue leading the structure. Sergunin, who admitted guilt, was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison and was released in April. Kobzev received 5.5 years, and Liptser 5 years in prison.