Alexei Navalny’s lawyer sentenced to five years in prison for “extremism”

Aleksei Lipzer is a lawyer at the Moscow Municipal Bar Association (MGKA) “Dalet”. From March 2021 to July 2022, he was one of the lawyers of opposition politician Alexei Navalny and represented his interests during Navalny’s detention in Correctional Colony No. 2 and later No. 6. Among other things, he filed complaints in court and other instances against Navalny’s detention conditions, including the lack of medical care. Together with two of Navalny’s other lawyers, Vadim Kobtsyov and Igor Sergunin, Aleksei Lipzer was arrested and detained on 13 October 2023. The lawyers are accused of alleged “extremism”. On 17 January 2025, he was sentenced to five years in prison.

Arrest and imprisonment

In the course of his arrest on 13 October 2023, Aleksei Lipzer’s private and office premises were searched and technical equipment, client dossiers, documents and money were confiscated. After the searches, the lawyer was taken to the building of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and questioned as a suspect. Aleksei is accused of “participation in the activities of an extremist community” in accordance with Art. 2 para. 282.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The criminal proceedings against the lawyer are thus directly linked to the criminal proceedings against Aleksei Navalny. On 16 November 2023, the arrested lawyers were added to the list of terrorists and extremists by the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring).

Aleksei Lipzer and his fellow lawyers have been in pre-trial detention since his arbitrary arrest. After a short stay in the Moscow pre-trial detention centre No. 4 of the Federal Service for the Execution of Criminal Penalties (FSIN), all three detainees were transferred to the so-called “Kremlin headquarters” (pre-trial detention centre No. 1 of the FSIN) on the night of 18 October 2023. It has been known since June 2024 that Aleksei is being held in pre-trial detention centre no. 1 in the city of Vladimir, Vladimir region, following a further transfer.

On 28 May 2024, an extension of pre-trial detention was ordered. On 17 January 2025, Lipzer was sentenced to five years in prison by the Petushinsky District Court in the Vladimir region.