NEW YORK (Oct. 13, 2026) — Three years ago today, Russian police arrested Vadim Kobzev and Alexei Liptser, two of the lawyers for the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) marks this anniversary by calling for the immediate release of Kobzev and Liptser, who remain imprisoned in harsh conditions in Russian penal colonies solely for doing their jobs as lawyers.
The arrests, an apparent effort to further isolate Navalny by cutting off his main channel of communication with the outside world, came four months before Putin’s regime killed him in a remote Arctic penal colony in February 2024. Within weeks, Russia’s financial monitoring agency added the lawyers to its list of so-called “terrorists and extremists.” Prosecutors claimed that by passing on Navalny’s messages, the lawyers had enabled him to keep leading an “extremist” organization, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, from behind bars — a designation the European Court of Human Rights has since found to be politically motivated.
Following a closed-door trial that lacked due process guarantees, they were convicted on Jan. 17, 2025, of “participation in an extremist community” under Article 282.1(2) of Russia’s Criminal Code. Kobzev was sentenced to five and a half years in prison, while Liptser received a five-year sentence. Both were barred from practicing law for three years following their release. Today, Kobzev and Liptser are serving their sentences in different penal colonies across Russia, and Liptser’s family reports that his health has seriously deteriorated.
Their case is part of a broader crackdown against lawyers who defend basic rights in Putin’s Russia. Two other lawyers for Navalny, Olga Mikhailova and Alexander Fedulov, have been charged in absentia with extremism after being forced to flee Russia. Well-known human rights attorney Maria Bontsler, who defended anti-war protesters, was arrested in May 2025 and is now on trial behind closed doors on treason charges and faces up to 20 years in prison. Most recently, lawyer Roman Melnichenko was arrested in July 2026 on charges of “discrediting” the Russian army and remains in pretrial detention.
Putin likes to project strength, but a regime that jails lawyers simply for defending their clients only exposes its fear of a fair fight. Vadim and Alexei were taken for doing nothing more than their jobs as lawyers. Three years later, Vadim and Alexei remain behind bars. They defended my husband when he needed them. Now we must continue to defend them,” said HRF Chair Yulia Navalnaya.
On Jan. 17, 2026, HRF submitted Kobzev and Liptser’s case to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), requesting that it declare their detention arbitrary and in violation of international law. The WGAD now has an opportunity to make it clear that imprisoning lawyers for representing a client cannot be tolerated under international law — and to request Kobzev and Liptser’s immediate release.
Every day Vadim Kobzev and Alexei Liptser spend in prison sends a message to lawyers in Russia and in every other authoritarian country: defend the wrong client, and you may lose your freedom. With Liptser’s health deteriorating behind bars, there is no time to lose. The international democratic community must press for their release now and defend the independence of the legal profession wherever it is under attack,” said HRF International Legal Associate Sergei Korotkov.
HRF calls on the Russian Federation to release Vadim Kobzev and Alexei Liptser immediately and unconditionally, to guarantee Liptser access to adequate medical care, and to end the persecution of lawyers. HRF further urges democratic governments and international bar associations to publicly raise the case and press for their freedom.
