Update
“No system to reach him”
Kremlin critic Navalny appears in a penal camp in the polar region
December 25, 2023, 2:07 p.m
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Alexei Navalny has been missing for weeks and there is no trace of the Kremlin opponent, who was sentenced to a long prison sentence. His supporters are very worried. Now the 47-year-old opposition activist has resurfaced: in a remote penal colony in northern Russia.
Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who has been wanted for more than two weeks, has resurfaced. Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysch said he was transferred to the IK-3 penal camp in Charp in northern Russia in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District: “We have found Alexei Navalny.” The prison camp is located around 1,900 kilometers northeast of Moscow, and Navalny was located there. Jarmysch also reported that the opposition lawyer was able to see him that Monday. Navalny is doing well.
His team had not had any contact with Navalny since December 6th and therefore went public with great concern. Court dates have since been postponed by the Russian authorities without giving reasons. However, a transfer to one of the toughest prisons in Russia had already been expected. According to the verdict handed down against him in the summer, Navalny must serve his sentence in a colony with harsher prison conditions. These are usually only intended for life sentences and particularly dangerous prisoners.
Navalny’s lawyer Ivan Zhdanov described the IK-3 prison camp as “one of the northernmost and most remote” detention centers in the country: “The conditions are harsh in the permafrost zone. It is very difficult to reach and there is no system for delivering letters or calls. ” The Moscow Times also quoted Zhdanov as saying that the accommodation there illustrates “how the system deals with political prisoners, how it tries to isolate and suppress them.” It was clear from the start that Moscow’s power apparatus wanted to isolate Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s opponent before the presidential election on March 17th.
Transfers often take place without informing relatives
There was also great concern for the 47-year-old because he is in poor health. During court proceedings, prison employees only stated that Navalny was no longer in the IK-6 penal camp, around 260 kilometers east of Moscow in the Vladimir region. Transfers from one penal colony to another in Russia often take several weeks and are carried out via train journeys that are interrupted by several stops. During this time, the prisoners’ relatives will not receive any information about their whereabouts.
“Many thanks to the supporters, the activists and journalists and the media who are concerned about Alexei’s fate and never tire of reporting on the situation,” Zhdanov said, according to the Reuters news agency. Previously, 618 inquiries had been sent as to where Navalny had been taken. The 47-year-old had previously been housed in a penal colony around 235 kilometers east of Moscow.
In August, Navalny was sentenced to an additional 19 years in prison, in addition to the 11 and a half years he is currently serving. Navalny was convicted, among other things, of extremism. His political movement was banned and close associates were imprisoned or fled abroad. Navalny rejects all allegations as politically motivated: They were aimed at silencing his criticism of President Vladimir Putin. Navalny, who also survived an assassination attempt with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020, is the best-known figure in Russia’s fragmented opposition. He was internationally recognized as a political prisoner.