Alexei Navalny has been in prison since 2021 Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo/Portal May 17, 2022
The Russian Alexei Navalnyone of the president's main opponents Wladimir Putinwas this Sunday (25), after being missing for three weeks. He is in an Arctic prison, said opposition spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh.
“We found Alexei Navalny. He is now in IK3, in the settlement of Kharp, in the Yamal Autonomous District. His lawyer visited him today. Alexei is fine,” Kira wrote on social media.
The disappearance occurred while Navalny was present transferred from a prison near Moscow to an undisclosed location on December 15. The enemy's allies fear that he will be sent to a prison with even harsher conditions.
Alexey Navalny was arrested in January 2021, but sentenced to a new prison sentence in August this year, for “extremism.” Because of the new punishment, he had to be transferred. The socalled “special regime” prisons are usually located in extremely isolated regions and have the strictest conditions in the Russian penal system.
Before the transfer, he was already serving a sevenyear prison sentence in a highsecurity complex for “embezzlement of funds,” a charge his supporters believe was fabricated because he opposed Putin.
These prisoner transports in Russia usually require weeks of convoy travel and take place in several stages. The detainees' families receive no news from them throughout the process.
In 2020 Navalny was in a coma for 17 days after drinking a cup of tea during a flight to Moscow. In Germany, where he remained hospitalized during this time, experts said they had evidence that they were Putin's opponents had been poisoned with Novichokwhich was criticized by the Russians.