There has been no trace of the arrested opposition figure since December 6. Now he stayed away from the court again. His case has been suspended for now.
Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who has been missing in custody for almost two weeks, failed to appear again at a court hearing on Monday. The judge in the Vladimir region therefore suspended the process until the politician's whereabouts were clarified, Navalny's team said. Opposition lawyers criticized the court for violating Russian laws.
“The judge simply abdicated his duty to administer justice instead of ensuring the plaintiff’s appearance,” Navalny’s lawyers said.
Navalny, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison for alleged extremism, among other things, repeatedly files lawsuits against the prison system for violating his rights. Since the beginning of December, there has been no trace of Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest adversary. “Alexei should have had seven court hearings today,” his spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysch, said on Monday. There is great concern for the 47-year-old because he is in poor health.
There is no information about the whereabouts
Prison officials once again told the court that Navalny was no longer in the IK-6 prison camp, about 260 kilometers east of Moscow in the Vladimir region. However, there is no further information on his whereabouts. Navalny's lawyers also accused the prison system of lying because officials recently stated that the politician would not be linked to the judicial proceedings via video for technical reasons.
When the judge asked why Navalny was being transferred from the camp, representatives of the prison system responded: “to serve his sentence.” “Over the weekend, lawyers carried out investigations in more than 200 detention centers. We are waiting for answers,” said Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s adviser.
Kremlin opponents around Navalny also started the “Russia without Putin” campaign in early December, with which they appealed to voters ahead of the presidential elections on March 17 to express their protest by voting for other candidates. Putin is participating in the vote for the fifth time and potential competitors are considered to have no chance.
Navalny, who also survived an assassination attempt with the Novichok nerve agent in 2020, has been imprisoned for almost three years. He was internationally recognized as a political prisoner. (APA/dpa)