Russia: the transfer of Russian opponent Navalny to an unknown location fuels additional concern about his fate

Where is Alexei Navalny? His supporters and the international community do not hide their concerns after the Russian opponent was taken from his prison to an unknown destination.

According to Kira Iarmich, the anti-corruption activist’s exiled spokesperson, a court informed the opponent’s lawyer that Mr. Navalny had “left the Vladimir region”, about 250 km east of Moscow, where he was previously incarcerated. “We don’t know to which destination exactly,” she wrote on X, specifying that this transfer would have taken place on December 11. His relatives have not heard from the opponent since December 6.

According to the Russian daily Kommersant, the court examining a complaint by Mr. Navalny against the administration of his prison notified on Friday that Mr. Navalny had left his colony “in accordance with the verdict of the Moscow City Court of August 4, 2023, which is entered into force”.

This verdict sentences Alexeï Navalny to nineteen years in prison for “extremism”, which he must spend in a “special regime” colony, the category of establishments where the conditions of detention are the harshest and which are of ordinary reserved for life prisoners and the most dangerous prisoners. “Navalny’s arrival [in his new colony] will be notified within the framework of current legislation,” states the document read in court, according to Kommersant.

Poisoned in August 2020

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 period.

This lack of news has aroused concern in several Western capitals. On Friday, a spokesperson for French diplomacy called on Moscow to ensure “the health of its detainees, in particular political prisoners.” On Monday, the White House said it was “very concerned” and again demanded the release of the opponent.

Arrested in January 2021, Alexeï Navalny, 47, had until now been serving his sentence in the Vladimir region. He was very often placed in solitary confinement, in retaliation for alleged violations of prison rules. In early December, Russian authorities initiated new charges of “vandalism” against the charismatic anti-corruption activist, which could add three more years of detention to his sentence.

Alexei Navalny narrowly escaped death when he was poisoned in August 2020, spending several months convalescing in Germany. He accuses the Kremlin, which denies any involvement.