Alexei Navalny filmed in his cell, during his trial, May 14, 2022. ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO / AP
Jailed Russian opponent Alexei Navalny has been transferred to a new penal colony “with a strict regime,” his relatives said Tuesday, June 14, who say they don’t know where he is and are worried for his life . “You told Pokrov [son ancienne colonie pénitentiaire] Olga Mikhailova, one of the lawyers of the 46-year-old opponent, told the Tass news agency that Navalny is no longer being held here, that he was transferred to a colony with a harsh regime. It has to do with the verdict coming into force in his new case. »
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The lawyer and anti-corruption activist, Russia’s main opponent, is already serving a sentence for “fraud” in a 2014 case involving French company Yves Rocher. Until then, he was imprisoned in the Pokrov colony, 100 km from Moscow, which is already considered one of the toughest in Russia.
“Find him as soon as possible”
“The problem (…) is not only that a maximum security colony is much scarier. As long as we don’t know where Alexei is, he stays one-on-one with a system that has already tried to kill him, so our main task is to locate him as soon as possible,” Messenger Telegram commented on its spokesman Kira Iarmych . She denounced the fact that neither the opponent nor his lawyers nor his family had been informed in advance about the transfer. The United States has asked Moscow to give him access to the lawyers and medical care he needs.
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Russian authorities “will be held accountable by the international community if anything happens to Mr. Navalny,” warned US diplomatic spokesman Ned Price. “We reiterate our call for his immediate release and an end to the persecution of his many supporters,” he told reporters in Washington.
Alexei Navalny was arrested in January 2021 on his return from Berlin, where he had been recovering for several months from poisoning he blames on Russian President Vladimir Putin.