Relatives of imprisoned Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny say they do not know where he is

Supporters of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, who is serving a 19-year prison sentence, announced on Monday December 11 that they had been trying to contact him in vain for almost a week and did not know where he was. His lawyers went on Friday then Monday to “two penal colonies […] where Alexei Navalny could be” but learned “that he wasn’t there”, declared its spokesperson Kira Iarmich. A little earlier, she had indicated that it was “six days” that his team had not heard from him. “They make fun of us”she castigated.

Alexeï Navalny notably missed a court hearing at which he was to appear by videoconference, an absence justified by a power outage according to the prison authorities, added Kira Iarmich. Washington reacted by saying “very concerned” by the lack of information regarding the whereabouts of Mr. Navalny, calling once again for his immediate release.“He should never have been imprisoned in the first place.”said John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, indicating that the American authorities were seeking to find out more.