Russian prosecutors demand less than 6 years jail term for 4 journalists

Russian prosecutors on Thursday demanded just under six years in prison for four independent journalists accused of helping the organisations of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the Mediazona news website reported.

Moscow banned Navalny's organisations as "extremist" shortly before launching its 2022 Ukraine offensive and has cracked down on anyone deemed to have links to them -- even after his death in an Arctic prison last year.

Since sending troops to Ukraine, Russia has also introduced censorship comparable to the late Soviet period.

Journalists Antonina Kravtsova, Konstantin Gabov, Sergei Karelin, and Artem Kriger are accused of "taking part in an extremist group".

Prosecutor Nadezhda Tikhonova requested a five year and 11 month prison sentence for each of them, Mediazona reported from Moscow's Nagatinsky court.

The maximum punishment for the charge is six years.

The journalists were able to shout the sentences requested by the prosecutor as they were convoyed in the hallway before the trial adjourned, Mediazona said.

They were arrested in spring and summer last year, several months after Navalny -- President Vladimir Putin's main opponent -- died in circumstances Russia has not yet fully explained.

As is increasingly common in Russia during the Ukraine offensive, they were tried behind closed doors.

Kravtsova, a 34-year-old photographer who worked for independent outlet SOTAvision and uses the pen name Antonina Favorskaya, had been covering Navalny's trials for two years and filmed his last appearance via video-link in court just two days before his death.

Journalists Gabov and Karelin -- both video correspondents who have worked for foreign media outlets -- are accused of preparing photos and video material for Navalny's social media channels.

Kriger, 24, the youngest among the accused, covered political trials and protests for SOTAvision.

Moscow has banned criticism of its Ukraine offensive, forcing most of the country's independent media to operate from outside Russia.