France on Wednesday, April 16, urged Russia to immediately release four journalists sentenced to long prison sentences for their association with the deceased leader Alexei Navalny. Navalny, the main opponent of Putin, was declared “extremist” by the Russian authorities, a ruling that remains in force despite his death in an Arctic Criminal Colony on February 16, 2024. Moscow also prohibited Navalny for his 2 2 of Ukraine and has attacked those links with him.
“France condemns prison sentences of five and a half years issued yesterday,” said French Ministry of Foreign Ministry Christophe Lemoine. A judge sentenced the journalists-Antonina Kravtsova, Konstantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artem Kriger, who covered Navalny for “five years and six months in a criminal colony of the general regime”, a journalist from the France agency of France.
“The ‘Journalists’ judgment’ is a new demonstration of the Russian authorities to suppress any opinion about the discussion and intimidate those who try to document human rights violations for what the Russian government is responsible,” said Lemaine.
“France is asking for the immediate and unconditional liberation of all processed for political reasons and Russia to respect its international commitments regarding the right to information and access to information,” Lemoine added.
Kravtsova, 35, is a journalist who worked for the Independent Sotension departure. Gabov, 38, collaborated with Reuters and other foreign points of sale, while Karelin, 42, who is also Israeli citizen, with Associated Press and Deutsche Welle. Kriger, 24, the young man among the defendants, covered political judgments and protests for Sotission.
]
