Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, has been moved to a penal colony in the Arctic, his spokeswoman said Monday (Dec 25). Navalny’s whereabouts were not known for over two weeks.
Spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said that Navalny was tracked down to the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets region, about 1,900 km northeast of Moscow.
Taking to social media, Yarmysh said: “We have found Alexei Navalny. He is now in IK-3 in the settlement of Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. His lawyer visited him today. Alexei is doing well.”
Navalny’s lawyer also managed to see him on Monday.
Previously, Navalny’s allies claimed that his lawyers had not seen him since December 6. Although they had been preparing for his expected transfer to a “special regime” colony, which is said to be the harshest grade in Russia’s prison system, Navalny’s disappearance raised global concern about his fate.
“Many thanks to our supporters, activists, journalists and the media who are concerned about Alexei’s fate and who do not get tired of writing about the situation,” Navalny lawyer Ivan Zhdanov said.
Zhdanov said his supporters sent 618 requests for information about the location of Navalny, who had been held at a penal colony 235 km east of Moscow.
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Case against Navalny
Navalny was sentenced in August to an additional 19 years in prison on top of the 11 1/2 years he was already serving. He denies all the charges. He is a former lawyer who gained popularity by publicly criticising Putin’s elite and alleging vast corruption.
A few days back, Russia issued an arrest warrant for Maria Pevchikh, a longtime ally of Navalny.
“Look, I am now on Russia’s wanted list,” Pevchikh said in a social media post featuring a smiling emoji with sunglasses.
“Not sure for what but who cares,” she added, and also showed a screenshot of the interior ministry’s announcement.
Pevchikh had already left Russia and is running the Anti-Corruption Foundation, an organisation founded by Navalny that highlights corruption among Russian elites.
Boris Akunin, who is a renowned Russian writer, was declared a “terrorist” by Moscow and became the target of a criminal inquiry recently. He said that he fears the moves signal a new milestone in the country’s history under Vladimir Putin.
“Putin’s regime has clearly decided to take a very important new step on its way from a police, autocratic state to a totalitarian state,” Akunin, who lives in exile, told Agence France-Presse in a video interview.
“Extending repression to the sphere of literature in such a traditionally literature-centred country as Russia is a major step.”
(With inputs from agencies)
