Navalny's Associates Report He Disappeared From Prison

Employees of the prison in the Vladimir region of Russia claim that the Russian opposition politician “is no longer registered” there.

Employees of prison #6 (IK-6) in the village of Melekhovo, Vladimir region, Russia, claims that Alexei Navalny “is no longer registered” there. They refuse to tell the lawyer of the Russian opposition politician his current location, Navalny’s press secretary Kira Yarmysh reported on X on Monday, December 11.

She also stated that in the special regime prison #7 (IK-7) in the Vladimir region they also claim that Alexei Navalny is not there. “On Friday and throughout today, neither IK-6 nor IK-7 responded to the lawyers. They have no order to tell for sure. Alexei’s location is is still unknown,” Yarmysh said.

A few hours earlier, a message appeared on the Navalny’s Team Telegram channel that Navalny’s associates had been unable to contact him for the sixth day. On December 11, he was supposed to appear in court via video link, but there was no broadcast. Representatives of the prison claim that since December 7 they have not been able to fix the power issue. “They are just mocking us,” Kira Yarmysh said in this regard.

Recall that Alexei Navalny was imprisoned by the Russian authorities in February 2021 after he was declared guilty of fraud in the so-called Yves Rocher case. Then the politician was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison. In March 2022, Navalny was also found guilty of fraud, and then of insulting a judge, and was sentenced to 9 years in a maximum security prison (for multiple offenses).

In August 2023, Alexei Navalny was sentenced by the Moscow City Court to 19 years in a high-security prison in the case of creating an “extremist association”. According to the authorities, the Anti-Corruption Foundation is such an association, Alexei Navalny really founded it.

On December 1, Navalny announced that another criminal case had been initiated against him – for vandalism.