On April 10th, the trial of journalists Sergei Karelin, Konstantin Gabov, Antonina Favorskaya, and Artem Kriger was concluded behind closed doors in a Moscow court. They had been charged with belonging to an “extremist” group, which they deny. Their actual “crime”: having previously reported favorably about famed dissident — and Putin nemesis — Aleksei Navalny.

The trial had been in progress since last October. Finally, on April 15th, sentencing was handed down, condemning each of the four defendants to five and one-half years in a penal colony. The charges against them carried a maximum penalty of imprisonment for six years.

This is more than just a tragedy for four innocent individuals; it is a continuation of Vladimir Putin’s obsessive drive — in the words of Human Rights Watch (HRW) — to “erase Navalny’s political legacy [through their] extensive arsenal of repressive tools.” In February, on the first anniversary of Navalny’s death in a Siberian penal colony, dozens of people who gathered to pay homage to his memory were detained by authorities. HRW has called those arrests “just the tip of the iceberg in the Kremlin’s continued crackdown on his supporters.” [Sana Noor Haq and Anna Chernova, CNN, April 16, 2025.]

But we can continue to remember him, his supporters, and all of the victims of Putin’s war against freedom.

*. *. *

And on Friday, a St. Petersburg court sentenced a 19-year-old woman, Darya Kozyreva, to two years and eight months in prison for repeatedly “discrediting” the Russian army — a charge used by the Putin regime to cover any number of actions deemed to signify opposition to the war in Ukraine. She had been arrested more than a year earlier, on February 24, 2024.

There is a monument in St. Petersburg to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko (which in itself is surprising), onto which Kozyreva had glued a verse from his poem “My Testament,” reading:

“Oh bury me, then rise ye up / And break your heavy chains / And water with the tyrants’ blood / The freedom you have gained.” [Mariya Knight and Caitlin Danaher, CNN, April 18, 2025.]

At a hearing on that charge, Kozyreva, of course, maintained that she was merely quoting an existing poem.

A second case was brought against her in August of 2024, following an interview with Radio Free Europe in which she called the war “monstrous” and “criminal.” And, dating back to her high school days in 2022, she has spoken out as an anti-war activist. She has been fined in the past for “discreditation,” and expelled from university for posting on Russian social media her views on the “imperialist nature of the war.” [Id.]

All of the above, of course, served to bring her to the attention of the Russian authorities to whom speaking against Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine is tantamount to committing treason.

Thus, sadly, we add one more name to our honor roll of political hostages today.

*. *. *

And never forgetting the others left behind . . .

The Azov 12
David Barnes
Ales Bialiatski (in Belarus)
Gordon Black
Andrei Chapiuk (in Belarus)
Antonina Favorskaya
Konstantin Gabov
Robert Gilman
Stephen James Hubbard
Sergey Karelin
Ihar Karney (in Belarus)
Vadim Kobzev
Darya Kozyreva
Artyom Kriger
Uladzimir Labkovich (in Belarus)
Michael Travis Leake
Aleksei Liptser
Ihar Losik (in Belarus)
Daniel Martindale
Farid Mehralizada (in Azerbaijan)
Nika Novak
Marfa Rabkova (in Belarus)
Igor Sergunin
Dmitry Shatresov
Robert Shonov
Eugene Spector
Valiantsin Stafanovic (in Belarus)
Siarhei Tsikhanouski (in Belarus)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland
Vladislav Yesypenko (in Crimea)
Yuras Zyankovich (in Belarus)

. . . while looking forward to the day they’re all at home again.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/20/25