WLadimir Putin’s spokesman once again knew nothing: when asked by Russian journalists on Wednesday morning about the whereabouts of regime opponent Alexei Navalny, he said that moving convicted prisoners from one prison to another is not one of the Kremlin’s jobs. The reference to a lack of jurisdiction is one of the standard answers given by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov to questions to which he does not want to answer.
Navalny’s comrades-in-arms also had no reliable information about his whereabouts for a good 24 hours, until his lawyer was able to see him on Wednesday in the IK-6 penal colony in the small town of Melekhovo in the Vladimir district, which is known for its poor prison conditions. Until then, there was a suspicion that he might be there, and a corresponding report by the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti on Tuesday evening – but neither Navalnyj’s lawyer nor his family had been informed about the transfer, according to his colleagues.
The uncertainty began when the lawyer wanted to speak to the regime opponent on Tuesday in his previous prison in Pokrov in the Vladimir region. He was initially detained at the entrance and then received the information in the early afternoon: “There is no such convict here” – this is how Navalnyj’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch, who lives in exile, described it on Twitter on Tuesday. There was no further information. For her, this was a cause for concern: “As long as we do not know for sure where Alexei is, he is alone with the system that has tried to murder him before,” she wrote.
So far, Navalny has been serving a sentence in a so-called “general regime” prison, dating back to a 2014 conviction for an alleged white-collar crime that was then suspended. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the trial of Alexey Navalny and his brother Oleg (who was about to serve his three and a half year sentence) was unlawful. A Moscow court came to the conclusion about a year and a half ago that Navalny had violated the conditions of probation when he was in Germany for medical treatment in the summer of 2020 after the poison attack on him. That is why he was arrested at the airport when he returned to Russia in early 2021.
IK-6 one of the worst prisons in the country
In March, he was sentenced to nine years in a strict regime in another trial in which he was accused of fraud and insults by judges. This judgment was confirmed in the second instance at the end of May. Therefore, his transfer to the penal camp in Melechevo was expected. The strict regime formally means that Navalnyj is allowed to receive fewer visitors and fewer letters and packages than before. But it’s about more than such formal deteriorations.
According to the human rights organization Gulagu.net, which has been documenting cases of torture and ill-treatment in Russian prisons for years, camp IK-6 is one of the worst prisons in the country. In the meantime, the public prosecutor’s office has filed another charge against Navalnyj – this time he is accused of founding an extremist group. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
Navalnyj himself was as optimistic and self-deprecating as ever in a message on Instagram, which came out through his lawyer: “The cosmic journey continues – I switched from one ship to the other.” Since he is still in quarantine , he has nothing special to report.