PETUSHKI, Vladimir region. Jan 17 (Interfax) - The Petushki District Court has sentenced three lawyers of Alexei Navalny - Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin - to jail time on counts of the alignment to an extremist network, an Interfax correspondent reported.
The court sentenced Kobzev to five years and six months in a general penitentiary, Liptser to five years in a penitentiary, and Sergunin to three years and six months.
The court disbarred each defendant for three years.
The lawyers were found guilty of the alignment with an extremist network.
The court said they would remain in custody until after the sentence takes effect.
The lawyers' defense is expected to appeal the sentence after consulting their clients.
As reported, the prosecutor demanded in argument that the defendants be sentenced from five years to five years and 11 months in a penitentiary.
The Petushki District Court started the trial in camera on September 12. Prosecutors asked the court for the in-camera proceeding, referring to a letter from the Russian Interior Ministry's Center for Countering Extremism, which said that members of the extremist network, the alignment with which the defendants were charged with, could threaten trial participants.
Kobzev and Liptser pleaded not guilty. As reported, Sergunin pleaded guilty in the course of investigation.
According to the defense, the lawyers passed information to and from Navalny, head of the extremist network, as he was serving time in a penitentiary in the Vladimir region.
Arrest warrants were issued in absentia for another two lawyers of Navalny, namely, Olga Mikhailova and Alexander Fedulov. They were put on the wanted list.