Imprisoned Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, whose relatives have not heard from him for almost three weeks, is in a penal colony in Kharp, in the Russian Arctic, his spokesperson reported on Monday, December 25.
“We found Navalny. He is in penal colony number 3 in the town of Kharp”said Kira Iarmych onspecifying that the opponent “doing well” and that his lawyer visited him on Monday.
Kharp, a small town of around 5,000 inhabitants, is located in Yamalo-Nenetsia, a remote region in northern Russia. It lies beyond the Arctic Circle and several penal colonies are located there.
Alexeï Navalny, anti-corruption activist and pet peeve of Vladimir Putin, is serving a nineteen-year prison sentence for “extremism”. His relatives and collaborators had not heard from him since the beginning of December, which meant his probable transfer from the colony in the Vladimir region, 250 kilometers from Moscow, where he had until now been detained.
“Special regime” colony
According to the verdict for “extremism” pronounced against Mr. Navalny, the opponent must serve his sentence in a colony “special diet”the category of establishments where the conditions of detention are the harshest and which are usually reserved for lifers and the most dangerous prisoners.
A colony in “special diet” is precisely located in Kharp, colony number 18 “Polar Owl”although Mr. Navalny is currently detained in another.
“From the start, it became clear that the authorities wanted to isolate Alexei, especially before the election” presidential election scheduled for March 2024, reacted on one of his close collaborators, Ivan Zhdanov.
Transfers from one penal colony to another in Russia often take several weeks of traveling by train with stages, with detainees’ relatives not being heard from during this period. This lack of news concerning the opponent had aroused concern in several Western capitals and the UN.