News brief

Alexei Navalny’s lawyers put on trial in Russia. Three lawyers who represented the late opposition leader have gone on trial in Russia. Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin, and Alexei Liptser were arrested in October 2023 on charges of involvement with an extremist group. The case was widely seen as a way to ramp up pressure on Mr. Navalny, the Kremlin’s fiercest foe who died in February. His lawyers were accused of using their status as defense attorneys to pass information from him to his team. Mr. Navalny’s organizations were outlawed as extremist groups in 2021. Mr. Navalny was serving 19 years in prison at the time of his still-unexplained death.

Many in the West saw Alexei Navalny as the Russian opposition’s most promising challenger to Vladimir Putin. His death in prison brought a tragic end to a struggle the Kremlin had already largely contained.