Undue process? Verdict delayed for four Russian journalists

Four Russian journalists are currently on trial in Moscow, charged with involvement in an "extremist" group.

The group in question is the Foundation for Fighting Corruption, founded by the late opposition leader Alexei Navanly, who died in early 2024 in an Arctic penal colony under unclear circumstances. In 2021, Russian authorities designated and banned the foundation as extremist.

All four defendants deny the charges and argue they did not work for the foundation but rather were reporting on it independently.

If found guilty, the defendants face up to six years in prison. The Russian human rights project Political Prisoners Memorial has classified them political prisoners.

On Thursday, Antonina Favorskaya, Artyom Kriger, Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin were set to deliver their closing arguments. The verdict must be handed down within five days.

Now, this deadline has been pushed back by a week, with the defendants now scheduled to make their final statements on March 20. The cirumstances for the delay were unknown at the time of publishing.

The trial has taken place behind closed doors. Few details are known, but the imprisoned journalists (outlined below) have been writing letters to stay in touch with the outside world.

Antonina Favorskaya, 35 

Antonina Favorskaya used to be a film and theater actress. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, she became a court photographer and began covering the hearings of political prisoners, including those of Alexei Navalny.

She was presumably the last journalist to capture images of the prominent opposition leader shortly before his death. Like many others, Favorskaya supports the view that Navalny was killed by Russian authorities.

Favorskaya, whose real name is Antonina Kravtsova, was arrested in March 2024. Since then, her supporters have published some of her letters on the instant messaging service Telegram, in which she explains why she stayed in Russia despite the risk: "I believe in our people. (…) And I am sure that in the end, history will make everything right."

Still, the journalist has also written openly about censorshipin Russia: "My hands are tied and my mouth is sewn shut."

Artyom Kriger, 24

Like Favorskaya, Artyom Kriger worked for SotaVision, an independent Russian news outlet that largely covers human rights abuses, protests, and political trials. He was arrested in June 2024 and charged with participating in the activities of an extremist group.

Speaking with journalists, Kriger explained that the charges leveled against him included taking part in recordings of a street survey, which he later posted to the video-sharing platform YouTube.

In a letter to DW, the journalist wrote that being in prison was hard on him but that he was attempting to maintain hope. Before the closed-door trial began, Kriger called on Russians who feared for their freedom to leave the country: "You can see from us that this is no joke, anybody can be charged with anything."

Konstantin Gabov, 38

Konstantiv Gabov is a freelance producer who has worked with a number of agencies, including the international news outlet Reuters and the US-funded broadcaster Radio Liberty.

Gabov was also employed at DW's Moscow bureau for a time. He was arrested in April 2024 and charged with participation in an extremist group. He's accused of having produced a video for the YouTube channel run by the banned Foundation for Fighting Corruption.

In his letters, Gabov often writes about his experiences in prison and how slowly time seems to pass.

A friend recently reported that Gabov's "writes that he's becoming more and more tired as the days go by, and that he has nothing to do with this case" (....) "he says this is just the way things go in Russia — first they arrest you, then they start investigating."

In late 2024, DW obtained a copy of a letter in which Gabov complained of his cell being overcrowded. After the media reported extensively on the inhumane conditions he was being held in, Gabov was transferred to a different cell.

Gabov frequently writes of the little things that help cheer him up in prison — such as the view from his window of the river Yausa or a cup of coffee — and although his friends say he has lost neither his optimism nor his sense of irony in prison — they do note with concern that he has lost something else, weight, some 12 kilos (26 pounds) in three months.

Sergey Karelin, 42

Cameraman Sergey Karelin has been in a Russian prison since April 2024. He was arrested in Russia's northern Murmansk region and charged with membership in an extremist organization.

Like Gabov, Karelin was accused of preparing material for the Navalny anti-corruption foundation's YouTube channel. He, too, has denied the accusations.

Karelin spent a long time working for DW's Moscow bureau, until the Russian Foreign Ministry canceled DW's broadcasting license and forced the outlet to shut its office in 2022. He also worked for other agencies, including the Associated Press (AP).

As a journalist, Karelin frequently visited penal colonies and detention centers. Now, behind bars himself, he says it is "very difficult not to lose hope," as the independent Russian paper Novaya Gazeta reported.

In a letter to DW, Karelin wrote that, despite the circumstances, he was able to keep himself occupied while being detained. He said he kept a diary, read a lot, played chess, and responded to the many letters he received. Karelin says he enjoys corresponding, even with strangers: "I like it when people send portraits of themselves. I put them in front of me, and it's like I'm speaking to them directly."

Karelin, who says he has been in 13 different cells since his arrest, also says he has "been in a number of situations" during that time.

The journalist, who also holds Israeli nationality, said that he does not fear the verdict, even though he does not expect it to be favorable. He longs to see his family, and is concerned that this might only be possible in an exchange. But, he said, he wants to be free in Russia.

"I'm worried I won't be able to see my grandparents anymore," he wrote, adding that his grandfather, 101, and daughter, 3, think he is away on business.

'We never could have imagined'

DW's Juri Resheto, who currently leads DW's bureau in Latvia's capital Riga, used to head DW's Moscow bureau and fondly remembers working with his former colleagues. "I know Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin very well (....) I traveled a lot with Sergey Karelin, and one business trip took us to Riga." 

"Back then, we could never have imagined that I would end up here and he would be in jail," Resheto said.

"But I'm absolutely certain that both of them will stay true to their callings as journalists," he added.

"The fact that they were arrested demonstrates that it's impossible to stay open, honest and incorruptible in your work [in Russia] while upholding journalistic standards and maintaining a journalistic code of ethics. And that is the basis of what we do."

This article was translated from German. It was updated on March 13, 2025, as it became known that the trial would conclude a week later than originally scheduled.