Russian Court Extends Pretrial Detention Of Noted Lawyer Held For Ukraine War Criticism

A court in Russia on April 20 prolonged until late July the pretrial detention of lawyer Dmitry Talantov, who was arrested in June 2022 on a charge of discrediting Russia's armed forces over his online condemnation of its invasion of Ukraine. Talantov was the lawyer for Ivan Safronov, a former prominent Russian journalist who was sentenced to 22 years in prison in September on a high-treason charge widely considered to be politically motivated. Talantov maintains his innocence. Safronov's other lawyers, Ivan Pavlov and Yevgeny Smirnov, fled Russia last year after probes questioning their professionalism were launched. To read the original story of RFE/RL's Idel.Realities, click here.