2023-12-25 13:29:49
– Opponent Alexeï Navalny is in a penal colony in the Arctic
Sentenced to 19 years in prison, the Kremlin’s number 1 critic is detained in the town of Kharp, in northern Russia.
Published today at 2:29 p.m.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on a television screen as he appears in a video link provided by the Russian Federal Prison Service in a courtroom of the Second Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow , in Russia, Tuesday October 18, 2022.
KEYSTONE/Alexander Zemlianichenko
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 said on Monday.
“We found Navalny. He is in penal colony number 3 in the locality of Kharp,” said Kira Iarmych on X (ex-Twitter), indicating that the opponent “is doing well” and that his lawyer visited him on Monday.
Convicted of “extremism”
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 bête noire of Vladimir Putin, is serving a 19-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 diet
According to the verdict for “extremism” pronounced once morest Mr. Navalny, the opponent must serve his sentence in a “special regime” colony, the category of establishments where the conditions of detention are the crudest and which are usually reserved lifers and the most dangerous prisoners.
A “special regime” colony is 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, in particular before the presidential election” scheduled for March 2024, reacted on X 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 stops, with detainees’ relatives not being heard from during this time. This lack of news concerning the opponent had aroused concern in several Western capitals and the UN.
Methodically eradicated
The White House said it was “very concerned” and once once more demanded the release of the opponent. Mr. Navalny’s movement has been methodically eradicated in recent years by the authorities, pushing his collaborators and allies into exile or prison.
Its Anti-Corruption Fund was declared “extremist” in 2021 and the authorities launched a wanted notice on Thursday once morest its director, Maria Pevtchikh, who fled abroad.
In early December, Russian authorities initiated new charges of “vandalism” once morest the charismatic anti-corruption activist, which might add three more years of detention to his sentence.
Faced with a crushed opposition and the repression of any critical voice in the country, Vladimir Putin is aiming for a new six-year mandate in the Kremlin during the presidential election next March, a mandate which will last him until 2030, the year of his 78 years.
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