As It Occurs5:57The place is Alexei Navalny? Allies lose contact with jailed Russian politician
Leonid Volkov says it is no coincidence that he and his colleagues have misplaced contact with imprisoned Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny simply as President Vladimir Putin runs for re-election.
Navalny’s employees and attorneys haven’t heard from him in every week, and jail officers will not inform them the place he’s.
Volkov, Navalny’s chief of employees, says he believes Putin has hidden him away so he cannot share statements with the general public by way of his attorneys from behind bars through the presidential election marketing campaign
“No matter occurs to Alexei Navalny is outlined by Mr. Putin personally,” Volkov advised As It Occurs host Nil Köksal.
“[His disappearance] proves that Putin nonetheless considers Navalny to be his foremost rival and he needs to ensure Navalny’s silent through the so-called presidential marketing campaign.”
Secretive Russian jail switch
Navalny is a 47-year-old Russian politician and outspoken Putin critic who has organized main anti-government protests within the nation. He is serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism, which he says are politically motivated.
That is his third stint in jail. He was most not too long ago arrested in January 2021 after returning residence from Germany, the place he was recuperating from nerve agent poisoning.
He had been serving his newest sentence at Russia’s Penal Colony No. 6, east of Moscow. However on Monday, jail officers advised Navalny’s attorneys that he had been moved from the colony and is not on the inmate roster.
The officers did not say the place Navalny went, and no one has heard from him since.
Jail transfers in Russia are notoriously secretive, with authorities offering no details about the whereabouts of inmates for weeks till they attain one other facility and are given permission to contact family members or attorneys.
“Sadly — and that is a scary factor — there isn’t a means for us to seek out out till he arrives someplace and he is allowed to get in contact along with his attorneys once more,” Volkov mentioned.
Requested Tuesday the place Navalny is, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned: “We now have neither a need nor a chance to trace down inmates.”
Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service didn’t reply to a request for remark from The Related Press.
Campaigning from behind bars
In the meantime, on Friday, Putin introduced he’s in search of one other six-year time period within the March 17 presidential election.
His critics say his re-election is assured due to his overwhelming management over the nation’s political scene and widening crackdown on dissent. His previous victories have been met with allegations of widespread irregularities and election fraud.
However even when Putin is aware of he’ll win, Volkov says he’s nonetheless anticipated to placed on a present of campaigning and answering folks’s questions.
“On this regard, it definitely appears like Putin may be very weak as a result of … folks need to know, like, when will the battle finish, how the federal government needs to take care of monumental poverty within the nation,” Volkov mentioned.
“Putin does not have any solutions for these questions. And Navalny is speaking solely about solely this.”
![A woman in sunglasses stands in a crowd holding a sign with a man's face, a QR code and the words #FREE NAVALNY](https://i.cbc.ca/1.7056806.1702409619!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_780/1258425255.jpg)
Navalny has continued to criticize the Kremlin from behind bars. In feedback posted to social media by his employees, he has known as for Russia to tug its troops from Ukraine instantly and focus as a substitute on points at residence.
“This can be a message that through the political marketing campaign — even this mock marketing campaign — will come by way of,” Volkov mentioned.
Authorities may attempt to ship Navalny to a distant colony additional restrict his affect, mentioned Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokesperson. “I assume they determined that it will be smarter for them to ship him as distant as a result of he is nonetheless too loud and too current within the public discipline,” she mentioned.
Worries about his well being
The opposition chief’s allies are additionally involved for his well being, saying he not too long ago fell ailing in jail and needed to be placed on an IV drip.
“It appears prefer it might need been a faint from starvation as a result of he is not being fed correctly, and he does not have any air flow in his cell and he does not have any, like, correct train time,” Yarmysh mentioned.
Volkov says any sickness is a life-threatening one if you’re in a Russian penal colony the place circumstances are notoriously poor and there’s no oversight.
“The native administration are stars and the gods. They outline the principles. There are not any restrictions for them. They will do no matter they need, they usually know they won’t be punished for no matter they’re doing,” he mentioned.
“And for Navalny, they all the time create particularly unhealthy circumstances.”
Within the meantime, Navalny’s colleagues intend to search for him by sending him letters to all 30 of Russia’s high-security penal colonies, and ready to see which of them are despatched again.
“He needs to be in considered one of them,” Volkov mentioned.