The Russian opposition chief Aleksei A. Navalny has been moved to a distant Arctic jail and “is doing well,” his spokeswoman mentioned on Monday, ending a 20-day thriller over his whereabouts that had many supporters fearing the worst.
“We have found Aleksei,” the spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, mentioned on social media. “His lawyer saw him today.”
Ms. Yarmysh’s announcement ended a frantic search by means of Russia’s huge jail system for Mr. Navalny, who disappeared on Dec. 5. Mr. Navalny’s exiled allies mentioned that that they had discovered him within the distant penal colony within the Arctic after sending greater than 600 requests to prisons and different authorities companies.
Ivan Zhdanov, director of Mr. Navalny’s anticorruption basis, mentioned that Mr. Navalny’s legal professionals had additionally seemed by means of each pretrial detention middle.
“From the beginning, it was clear that the government wanted to isolate Aleksei, especially ahead of the election,” Mr. Zhdanov mentioned, referring to the approaching presidential race in Russia that President Vladimir V. Putin is broadly anticipated to win.
Mr. Navalny’s new penal colony, formally referred to as IK-3 Polar Wolf, is within the settlement of Kharp and is among the many harshest and remotest prisons in Russia. Inmates endure lengthy, darkish, chilly winters in addition to clouds of mosquitoes in the summertime.
Mr. Navalny’s earlier jail, within the city of Melekhovo, was solely about 160 miles east of Moscow, which means that his legal professionals might drive there in a fashion of hours. In distinction, the brand new jail is a few 1,200 miles from the capital. A practice to Kharp, referred to as the Polar Arrow, departs Moscow each second day and takes 44 hours to achieve the city.
“Aleksei’s situation is a clear example of how the system treats political prisoners, trying to isolate and suppress them,” Mr. Zhdanov mentioned on social media.
Ivan Vostrikov, former head of Mr. Navalny’s workplace within the city of Tyumen, in Siberia, mentioned he had been to Kharp a number of instances. He described the city as “a very beautiful place with a very tough winter.”
“It is practically impossible to run away from it — on the one side there is tundra,” he mentioned in a put up on Telegram, a social messaging app. “On the other, there are rocky mountains of Polar Urals,” he added. “That’s why they put the worst criminals and serial killers there.”
Mr. Navalny’s allies had been anticipating his switch to considered one of Russia’s stricter prisons — referred to as “special regime” jail colonies — since September, when he misplaced an attraction in opposition to the 19-year sentence he’s serving.
Detainees being transferred to distant prisons in Russia can spend weeks being shuttled between trains in particular rail vehicles and have little or no entry to the surface world. But Mr. Navalny’s disappearance made headlines virtually instantly due to his high-profile standing within the Russian political system.
Mr. Navalny has been in custody in Russia since his detention in January 2021 at a Moscow airport, the place he had arrived after spending months in Germany recovering from poisoning by a nerve agent. Mr. Navalny and Western governments accused the Kremlin of the poisoning, which Russian officers denied.
Since then, the Russian authorities have introduced forth a mess of latest prices in opposition to Mr. Navalny. According to Ms. Yarmysh, he’s at present a defendant in 14 felony circumstances and faces potential sentences of as much as 35 years in jail.
Source: www.nytimes.com