Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny gestures inside a glass cage prior to a hearing at the Babushkinsky District Court in Moscow on February 20, 2021. His lawyers located him at a penal colony in the Arctic after weeks of no contact with him. File Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA-EFE
Russian dissident Alexei Navalny is being housed in an Arctic penal colony, his spokeswoman announced Monday, nearly three weeks after his family said they last knew of his whereabouts.
“We have found Alexey @navalny. He is now in IK-3 in the settlement of Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District,” his aide, Kira Yarmysh, wrote in a post on X. “His lawyer visited him today. Alexey is doing well.” Advertisement
The IK-3 penal colony is about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow and is considered to be among the harshest of Russia’s prisons, The New York Times reported. Prisoners experience cold, dark winters and summers full of mosquitoes.
Russia previously imprisoned Navalny in the town of Melekhovo, about 160 miles east of Moscow and more easily accessible by his lawyer. By contrast, the Times said it takes a 44-hour train trip to reach Kharp.
“Alexei’s situation is a clear example of how the system treats political prisoners, trying to isolate and suppress them,” said Ivan Zhdanov, who runs Navalny’s anticorruption foundation.
Navalny’s family and lawyers said they last had contact with him in early December, and he’s failed to appear for several legal hearings. He’s also been seriously ill. Advertisement
Russian authorities initially refused to answer questions about Navalny’s whereabouts after suspending his court hearings citing technical difficulties with the video link for his virtual appearance, The Washington Post reported. Authorities later said he was in a colony in the Vladimir region.
Russian authorities arrested Navalny in January 2021 after returning from Berlin, where he received treatment for Novichok poisoning. Russian officials said he violated the terms of his probation from a 2014 case by traveling to Germany.
Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison on extremism charges. He was being prepared for transfer to a more strict penal colony to serve his sentence when his legal team lost contact with him earlier this month.
