Alexei Navalny has been transferred to another highsecurity prison in Russia and his arrival at the new place of detention will be announced in accordance with current legislation, the Russianlanguage news site Sota.vision said on Friday, citing the prison service in Vladimir province, east of Moscow, where IK6, the penal colony where the Russian political opponent has been held since the middle of last year.
Navalny's friends, family and representatives have not heard from him for almost 10 days and already suspect that Russian authorities are preparing to transfer him to another “special regime” prison, the strictest level of the federation's prison system. Russian, the activist said, was sentenced to another 19 years in prison in the summer. However, they still don't know where they are.
“We don’t know where they took him. “His lawyers have not seen Alexei since December 6,” Kira Iarmish, Navalny’s spokeswoman, said on social media.
According to Sota.vision whose founder and director Aleksei Obukhov was considered a “foreign agent” by Russian authorities which covers topics related to courts and trials, representatives of the Vladimir Penitentiary Service read a note about Navalny during a hearing a court found this Friday.
“Alexei Navalny transferred the IK6 Federal Penitentiary Institution in the Vladimir Region to a correctional institution outside the Vladimir Region in accordance with the decision of the Moscow City Court of August 4, 2023,” the note read out in court said.
The location and date of arrival were not disclosed the note simply said that everything would be done in accordance with legal regulations. The process of moving prisoners across Russia's vast territory typically takes several days and in most cases occurs by train.
Alexei Navalny was arrested in 2021 after returning to Russia following a poisoning with Novichok, a highly toxic chemical weapon manufactured in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.
However, convicted of various crimes such as fraud, supporting an “extremist network” or violating probation, the political opponent and his allies guarantee that he is the target of a “persecution” coordinated by the Kremlin with “political motives”. In total, Navalny has to serve almost 30 years in prison.
The United States and the European Union have already expressed concern over Navalny's “disappearance,” insisting to the Russian Federation that it is necessary to preserve his safety and health status and proceed with his release.
The Kremlin, in turn, said it does not interfere in matters under the jurisdiction of the courts and accused Washington and Brussels of “unacceptable interference.”