Russia: opposition Alexei Navalny transferred to unknown place of detention

MOSCOW In the midst of a marked secret, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny He was transferred today to an unknown destination from the Moscow prison where he had been since his arrest in mid-January on his return to Russia, said his lawyer, Vadim Kobzev.

“Today I went to visit him, I was there for three hours and in the end they told me that the visit was impossible, since Navalny had been transferred” to another place, said the lawyer.

According to the legislation, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service is to inform Navalny’s relatives in the near future of the precise location to which he has been transferred. Olga Mijailova, another of his lawyers, said “they did not tell anyone where he was transferred”, but suggested he could have gone to the penal colony where he would serve a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence.

Russian justice last week upheld the verdict against the 44-year-old activist in a 2014 fraud case that Navalny himself, several countries and non-governmental organizations see as a political decision.

He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Navalny was arrested on January 17 on his return from Germany, where he stayed for five months to recover from a poisoning he attributes to President Vladimir Putin, who always denied it. One of his relatives, Leonid Volkov, said on the social network Twitter that the opponent’s family also did not know where he was.

“I remember once again that by virtue of a binding decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Alexei Navalny should be released immediately,” he added.

His arrest sparked heated protests in Russia, which left more than 10,000 detained, while most of his collaborators were arrested. Last week, the courts also fined Navalny for “libel” against a veteran of World War II, one of many cases opened against him.

AP, AFP and ANSA agencies

THE NATION

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