A Moscow court decided on Friday that a journalist who covered the trials of late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny be put in pretrial detention on “extremism” allegations.
Prosecutors claim Antonina Kravtsova, a correspondent for the independent SotaVision station, was a member of a “extremist organization,” allegations that carry a maximum prison sentence of six years.
Prior to his death, the Kremlin declared Navalny’s organisations “extremist” and cracked down on his last allies in Russia.
“The Basmanny District Court ordered Antonina Kravtsova to be remanded in custody for a period of two months,” the Moscow courts’ press department said in a Telegram message.
Kravtsova, also known as Antonina Favorskaya, routinely covered Navalny’s trials. She recorded a court hearing for him the day before he died in an Arctic prison colony last month.
She was detained after leaving jail earlier this week, where she had already received a 10-day term for defying police orders.
She had been imprisoned for hours after visiting Navalny’s tomb in southern Moscow during the Russian presidential election.
According to prosecutors, Kravtsova disseminated banned items on Navalny’s social media networks.
Kravtsova said in court on Friday that the prosecution was punishment for an essay she wrote about Navalny being “tortured” in prison, according to SotaVision.
Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s wife, shared the story on X, describing it as a “important text”.
Navalny’s team slammed the case and claimed on Friday that the Russian state was attempting to instill “new wave of fear” among its detractors.