Imprisoned Russian opposition chief Navalny situated in penal colony 3 weeks after contact misplaced

MOSCOW (AP) — Associates of imprisoned Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny stated Monday that he has been situated at a jail colony above the Arctic Circle almost three weeks after contact with him was misplaced.

Navalny, probably the most outstanding foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is serving a 19-year sentence on fees of extremism. He had been imprisoned within the Vladimir area of central Russia, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) east of Moscow, however his attorneys stated they’d not been capable of attain him since Dec. 6.

His spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, stated on X, previously Twitter, that he was situated in a jail colony within the city of Kharp, within the Yamalo-Nenetsk area about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow.

The area is infamous for lengthy and extreme winters; the city is close to Vorkuta, whose coal mines had been among the many harshest of the Soviet Gulag prison-camp system.

“It is almost impossible to get to this colony; it is almost impossible to even send letters there. This is the highest possible level of isolation from the world,” Navalny’s chief strategist, Leonid Volkov, stated on X.

Transfers inside Russia’s jail system are shrouded in secrecy and inmates can disappear from contact for a number of weeks. Navalny’s staff was significantly alarmed when he couldn’t be discovered as a result of he had been sick and reportedly was being denied meals and stored in an unventilated cell.

Supporters believed he was intentionally being hidden after Putin introduced his candidacy in Russia’s March presidential election. While Putin’s reelection is all however sure, given his overwhelming management over the nation’s political scene and a widening crackdown on dissent, Navalny’s supporters and different critics hope to make use of the marketing campaign to erode public help for the Kremlin chief and his army motion in Ukraine.

Navalny has been behind bars in Russia since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. Before his arrest, he campaigned towards official corruption and arranged main anti-Kremlin protests.

He has since obtained three jail phrases and spent months in isolation in Penal Colony No. 6 for alleged minor infractions. He has rejected all fees towards him as politically motivated.