MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court on Tuesday convicted four journalists of extremism for working for an anti-corruption group founded by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny and sentenced them to 5 1/2 years in prison each.
Antonina Favorskaya, Kostantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artyom Kriger were found guilty of involvement with a group that had been labeled as extremist. All four had maintained their innocence, arguing they were being prosecuted for doing their jobs as journalists.
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Russian journalists, from left, Konstantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin, Artyom Kriger and Antonina Favorskaya, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stand in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalists, from left, Konstantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin, Artyom Kriger and Antonina Favorskaya, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stand in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalist Konstantin Gabov, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stands in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalists, from left, Sergey Karelin and Konstantin Gabov, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stand in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalist Artyom Kriger, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stands in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalist Sergey Karelin, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stands in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalist Antonina Favorskaya, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stands in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalists, Antonina Favorskaya, left, and Artyom Kriger, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stand in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
The closed-door trial was part of an unrelenting crackdown on dissent that has reached an unprecedented scale after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
The authorities have targeted opposition figures, independent journalists, rights activists and ordinary Russians critical of the Kremlin with prosecution, jailing hundreds and prompting thousands to flee the country.
Favorskaya and Kriger worked with SotaVision, an independent Russian news outlet that covers protests and political trials. Gabov is a freelance producer who has worked for multiple organizations, including Reuters. Karelin, a freelance video journalist, has done work for Western media outlets, including The Associated Press.
The four journalists were accused of working with Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which was designated as extremist and outlawed in 2021 in a move widely seen as politically motivated.
Navalny was President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest and most prominent foe and relentlessly campaigned against official corruption in Russia. Navalny died in February 2024 in an Arctic penal colony while serving a 19-year sentence on a number of charges, including running an extremist group, which he had rejected as politically driven.
Favorskaya said at an earlier court appearance open to the public that she was being prosecuted for a story she did on abuse Navalny faced behind bars. Speaking to reporters from the defendants' cage before the verdict, she also said she was punished for helping organize Navalny's funeral.
Gabov, in a closing statement prepared for court that was published by the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, said the accusations against him were groundless and the prosecution failed to prove them.
“I understand perfectly well ... what kind of country I live in. Throughout history, Russia has never been different, there is nothing new in the current situation,” Gabov said in the statement. “Independent journalism is equated to extremism.”
In a statement Karelin prepared for his closing arguments that also was published by Novaya Gazeta, he said he had agreed to do street interviews for Popular Politics, a YouTube channel founded by Navalny’s associates, while trying to provide for his wife and a young child. He stressed that the channel wasn’t outlawed as extremist and had done nothing illegal.
“Remorse is considered to be a mitigating circumstance. It’s the criminals who need to have remorse for what they did. But I am in prison for my work, for the honest and impartial attitude to journalism, FOR THE LOVE for my family and country,” he wrote in a separate speech for court that also was published by the outlet, in which he emphasized his feelings in capital letters.
Kriger, in a closing statement published by SotaVision, said he was imprisoned and added to the Russian financial intelligence’s registry of extremists and terrorists “only because I have conscientiously carried out my professional duties as an honest, incorruptible and independent journalist for 4 1/2 years.”
“Don't despair guys, sooner or later it will end and those who delivered the sentence will go behind bars,” Kriger said after the verdict.
Supporters who gathered in the court building chanted and applauded as the four journalists were led out of the courtroom after the verdict.
The journalists' lawyers said they would appeal the verdict, which Kriger's attorney, Yelena Sheremetyeva, described as "illegal, unfair.”
“The profession of a journalist in itself is not extremism,” said Irina Biryukova. “And based on the case materials that are available, I will say that in our opinion, there is no evidence that the guys committed any crimes, or even minor offenses.”
She said the four “are holding up” and “were happy that so many people came.”
The Russian human rights group Memorial designated all four as political prisoners, among more than 900 others held in the country. That number includes Mikhail Kriger, Artyom Kriger’s uncle, a Moscow-based activist who was arrested in 2022 and is serving a seven-year prison sentence.
Mikhail Kriger was convicted of justifying terrorism and inciting hatred over Facebook comments in which he expressed a desire “to hang” Putin.
Russian journalists, from left, Konstantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin, Artyom Kriger and Antonina Favorskaya, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stand in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalist Konstantin Gabov, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stands in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalists, from left, Sergey Karelin and Konstantin Gabov, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stand in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalist Artyom Kriger, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stands in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalist Sergey Karelin, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stands in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalist Antonina Favorskaya, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stands in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
Russian journalists, Antonina Favorskaya, left, and Artyom Kriger, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, stand in a defendant's cage of the Nagatinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo)
A group of Buddhist monks and their rescue dog are striding single file down country roads and highways across the South, captivating Americans nationwide and inspiring droves of locals to greet them along their route.
In their flowing saffron and ocher robes, the men are walking for peace. It's a meditative tradition more common in South Asian countries, and it's resonating now in the U.S., seemingly as a welcome respite from the conflict, trauma and politics dividing the nation.
Their journey began Oct. 26, 2025, at a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Texas, and is scheduled to end in mid-February in Washington, D.C., where they will ask Congress to recognize Buddha’s day of birth and enlightenment as a federal holiday. Beyond promoting peace, their highest priority is connecting with people along the way.
“My hope is, when this walk ends, the people we met will continue practicing mindfulness and find peace,” said the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the group’s soft-spoken leader who is making the trek barefoot. He teaches about mindfulness, forgiveness and healing at every stop.
Preferring to sleep each night in tents pitched outdoors, the monks have been surprised to see their message transcend ideologies, drawing huge crowds into churchyards, city halls and town squares across six states. Documenting their journey on social media, they — and their dog, Aloka — have racked up millions of followers online. On Saturday, thousands thronged in Columbia, South Carolina, where the monks chanted on the steps of the State House and received a proclamation from the city's mayor, Daniel Rickenmann.
At their stop Thursday in Saluda, South Carolina, Audrie Pearce joined the crowd lining Main Street. She had driven four hours from her village of Little River, and teared up as Pannakara handed her a flower.
“There’s something traumatic and heart-wrenching happening in our country every day,” said Pearce, who describes herself as spiritual, but not religious. “I looked into their eyes and I saw peace. They’re putting their bodies through such physical torture and yet they radiate peace.”
Hailing from Theravada Buddhist monasteries across the globe, the 19 monks began their 2,300 mile (3,700 kilometer) trek at the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth.
Their journey has not been without peril. On Nov. 19, as the monks were walking along U.S. Highway 90 near Dayton, Texas, their escort vehicle was hit by a distracted truck driver, injuring two monks. One of them lost his leg, reducing the group to 18.
This is Pannakara's first trek in the U.S., but he's walked across several South Asian countries, including a 112-day journey across India in 2022 where he first encountered Aloka, an Indian Pariah dog whose name means divine light in Sanskrit.
Then a stray, the dog followed him and other monks from Kolkata in eastern India all the way to the Nepal border. At one point, he fell critically ill and Pannakara scooped him up in his arms and cared for him until he recovered. Now, Aloka inspires him to keep going when he feels like giving up.
“I named him light because I want him to find the light of wisdom,” Pannakara said.
The monk's feet are now heavily bandaged because he's stepped on rocks, nails and glass along the way. His practice of mindfulness keeps him joyful despite the pain from these injuries, he said.
Still, traversing the southeast United States has presented unique challenges, and pounding pavement day after day has been brutal.
“In India, we can do shortcuts through paddy fields and farms, but we can’t do that here because there are a lot of private properties,” Pannakara said. “But what’s made it beautiful is how people have welcomed and hosted us in spite of not knowing who we are and what we believe.”
In Opelika, Alabama, the Rev. Patrick Hitchman-Craig hosted the monks on Christmas night at his United Methodist congregation.
He expected to see a small crowd, but about 1,000 people showed up, creating the feel of a block party. The monks seemed like the Magi, he said, appearing on Christ’s birthday.
“Anyone who is working for peace in the world in a way that is public and sacrificial is standing close to the heart of Jesus, whether or not they share our tradition,” said Hitchman-Craig. “I was blown away by the number of people and the diversity of who showed up.”
After their night on the church lawn, the monks arrived the next afternoon at the Collins Farm in Cusseta, Alabama. Judy Collins Allen, whose father and brother run the farm, said about 200 people came to meet the monks — the biggest gathering she’s ever witnessed there.
“There was a calm, warmth and sense of community among people who had not met each other before and that was so special,” she said.
Long Si Dong, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth temple, said the monks, when they arrive in Washington, plan to seek recognition of Vesak, the day which marks the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha, as a national holiday.
“Doing so would acknowledge Vesak as a day of reflection, compassion and unity for all people regardless of faith,” he said.
But Pannakara emphasized that their main goal is to help people achieve peace in their lives. The trek is also a separate endeavor from a $200 million campaign to build towering monuments on the temple’s 14-acre property to house the Buddha’s teachings engraved in stone, according to Dong.
The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha himself as core for attaining enlightenment. It focuses on the mind-body connection — observing breath and physical sensations to understand reality, impermanence and suffering. Some of the monks, including Pannakara, walk barefoot to feel the ground directly and be present in the moment.
Pannakara has told the gathered crowds that they don't aim to convert people to Buddhism.
Brooke Schedneck, professor of religion at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, said the tradition of a peace walk in Theravada Buddhism began in the 1990s when the Venerable Maha Ghosananda, a Cambodian monk, led marches across war-torn areas riddled with landmines to foster national healing after civil war and genocide in his country.
“These walks really inspire people and inspire faith,” Schedneck said. “The core intention is to have others watch and be inspired, not so much through words, but through how they are willing to make this sacrifice by walking and being visible.”
On Thursday, Becki Gable drove nearly 400 miles (about 640 kilometers) from Cullman, Alabama, to catch up with them in Saluda. Raised Methodist, Gable said she wanted some release from the pain of losing her daughter and parents.
“I just felt in my heart that this would help me have peace,” she said. “Maybe I could move a little bit forward in my life.”
Gable says she has already taken one of Pannakara’s teachings to heart. She’s promised herself that each morning, as soon as she awakes, she’d take a piece of paper and write five words on it, just as the monk prescribed.
“Today is my peaceful day.”
Freelance photojournalist Allison Joyce contributed to this report.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," get lunch Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Aloka rests with Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
A sign is seen greeting the Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Supporters pray with Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Supporters watch Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
A Buddhist monk ties a prayer bracelet around the wrist of Josey Lee, 2-months-old, during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Bhikkhu Pannakara, a spiritual leader, speaks to supporters during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Buddhist monks participate in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Buddhist monks participate in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Bhikkhu Pannakara leads other buddhist monks in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Audrie Pearce greets Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Bhikkhu Pannakara, a spiritual leader, speaks to supporters during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," arrive in Saluda, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," are seen with their dog, Aloka, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
