His close associates say he is likely being transferred to another prison. In Russia, prison transfers can take days, if not weeks, and are shrouded in secrecy. “All this time we do not know where Alexei is, he is left alone with the system that has already tried to kill him once,” Navalny’s spokeswoman Keira Yarmis told social media. Navalny’s closest ally, Leonid Volkov, told the Telegram that the politician’s lawyer had visited him in prison on Tuesday and had been told that “there is no such convict here”. “We do not know where Alexei is now and what prison he is being taken to,” Volkov said. Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s most determined political enemy, was arrested in January 2021 on his return from Germany, where he was recovering from a nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin, and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. penalty for breach of release. In March, Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison for fraud and contempt of court, charges he dismissed as politically motivated and an attempt by authorities to keep him behind bars for as long as possible. The judge ordered him to serve the new sentence in a maximum security prison. He was supposed to be transferred to one after losing his appeal. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST The new conviction follows a year-long crackdown by the Kremlin on Navalny supporters, other opposition activists and independent journalists, where authorities appear willing to quell any dissent. Navalny’s close associates have been prosecuted and many have fled the country, while his group’s political infrastructure – an anti-corruption institution and a nationwide network of regional offices – has been destroyed after being branded an extremist organization. Until now, Navalny was in the IK-2 penal colony in the Vladimir region, about 60 miles east of the Russian capital. The facility in the city of Pokrov stands out among Russian penitentiaries for its extremely strict prisoner routines, which include hours of care. Yarmysh rumored that Navalny was to be transferred to IK-6, a high-security colony in the same area 90 miles east of IK-2, but noted that “neither Alexei’s lawyers nor his relatives were informed of his transfer. ». Navalny’s lawyer did not confirm the rumors in a telephone interview with the Associated Press, saying all he knew was that he “withdrew in an unknown direction.” Russia’s secrecy over the transfer of detainees has been criticized by human rights defenders.
