Opponent Alexeï Navalny is detained in a penal colony in the Arctic and “is doing well”, according to his spokesperson

Those close to the anti-corruption activist had not heard from him for almost three weeks. It is located in Kharp, in Yamalo-Nenetsia, a remote region in northern Russia.

Imprisoned Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, whose relatives have not heard from him for almost three weeks, is detained in a penal colony in Kharp, in the Russian Arctic, his spokesperson announced Monday, December 25. “We found Navalny. He is in penal colony number 3 in the town of Kharp”affirmed Kira Larmych on X, indicating that the opponent “doing well” and that his lawyer visited him on Monday.

Kharp, a small town of around 5,000 inhabitants, is located in Yamalo-Nenetsia, a remote region in northern Russia. It lies beyond the Arctic Circle and several penal colonies are located there. The United States said to itself, on Monday, “deeply concerned” of “spell” and “unfair detention conditions” by Alexei Navalny.

Sentenced to 19 years in prison

Alexei Navalny, anti-corruption activist and pet peeve of Vladimir Putin, is serving a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism”. The absence of any news from him since the beginning of December suggested that he had been transferred from the colony in the Vladimir region, 250 kilometers from Moscow, where he had been detained until now.

According to the verdict against him, the opponent must serve his sentence in a colony “special diet”, the category of establishments where the conditions of detention are the harshest and which are usually reserved for lifers and the most dangerous prisoners. A colony in “special diet” is precisely located in Kharp, colony number 18 “Polar Owl”, although Alexei Navalny is currently detained in colony number 3. “From the start, it became clear that the authorities wanted to isolate Alexei, especially before the election” presidential election scheduled for March 2024, reacted on X one of his close collaborators, Ivan Zhdanov.