Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny transferred to penal colony known for cruelty, abuse

Russia’s most prominent opposition leader has been transferred to a maximum security after his prison sentence was extended nine years over charges he rejected as politically motivated.

Alexei Navalny has been in custody since 2021 after returning from Germany, where he fled for treatment when he was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent, reports The Guardian. He accused the Kremlin of attempting to assassinate him, which it has denied.  

Leonid Volkov, a close ally of Navalny, said that Navalny’s lawyer went to visit him in prison on Tuesday and was told that “there is no such convict here,” according to a Telegram post. He and his legal team had not been notified of a transfer.

“Today, Navalny's lawyer in the colony in Pokrov was told that Navalny was no longer being held there; he was transferred to a strict-regime colony, but we were not told which one,” lawyer Olga Mikhailova told the state-run TASS news agency, reports The Moscow Times.

“The problem with his transfer to another colony is not only that the high-security colony is much scarier. As long as we don't know where Alexei is, he remains one-on-one with the system that has already tried to kill him, so our main task now is to locate him as soon as possible,” Navalny’s spokesman Kira Yarmysh posted to Twitter.

The problem with his transfer to another colony is not only that the high-security colony is much scarier. As long as we don't know where Alexei is, he remains one-on-one with the system that has already tried to kill him, so our main task now is to locate him as soon as possible

— Кира Ярмыш (@Kira_Yarmysh) June 14, 2022

After several hours where his whereabouts were unknown, Reuters confirmed Navalny had been taken to the IK-6 high-security penal colony at Melekhovo, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) east of Moscow.

The Melekhovo facility has a reputation for cruelty and systematic abuse of prisoners by guards and other convicts, according to The Washington Post. Former inmates have gone on the record with stories of beatings, humiliation and rape.

“Abuse and torture are used against inmates in many Russian prisons, but IK-6 in Melekhovo is a monstrous place even by such insane standards,” Yarmysh said in a tweet in May, when it was first rumored Navalny may be sent there.