Lawyers who represented the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny are sentenced in a Kremlin crackdown on dissent at levels unseen since Soviet times.

Russia on Friday sentenced three lawyers who had defended Alexei Navalny to several years in prison for bringing messages from the late opposition leader from prison to the outside world.

By Mark Trevelyan LONDON (Reuters) -Three lawyers for the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny were found guilty by a Russian court on Friday of belonging to an extremist group and sentenced to years in a penal colony.

A Russian court handed down prison sentences of between 42 and 66 months Friday to three lawyers of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny after they were convicted of aiding his Anti Corruption Foundation.

Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser, who once represented the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, were all jailed for several years each by a court in the town of Petushki

Russia has sentenced three lawyers of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny to prison terms for transmitting his messages from prison to the outside world.

LONDON (Reuters) -Three lawyers for the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were found guilty on Friday of belonging to an extremist group by a Russian court and sentenced to between 3 1/2 and 5 1/2 years,

Three lawyers who represented Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were sentenced to prison for alleged extremist ties. Their conviction is seen as part of the Kremlin's broader crackdown on dissent.

A Russian court will next week issue verdicts against three of Alexei Navalny's former lawyers, being tried for "extremism" as part of an escalating crackdown on the Kremlin critic's allies even after his death.

Prosecutors accused the lawyers of "using their status" to give letters written by Navalny during his time in prison to his associates, enabling him to continue to lead an "extremist organisation", CNN reported, citing independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

Four dead in Kyiv as Putin’s forces launch barrage of drones and missiles - ‘This aggressive Russian action is not acceptable,’ French defense minister said