Navalny transferred to unknown destination, supporters say

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was taken from his prison and transferred to an unknown destination, according to his supporters.

He had not been heard from for over a week. 

While Navalny’s location is still unknown, his supporters said on Friday he could have been moved to a detention centre with even harsher conditions. 

What’s certain, so far, is that he has “left the Vladimir region,” his spokesperson Kira Iarmich said – information relayed by a court to Navalny’s lawyer.

The Russian daily Kommersant reported the jailed critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin had left his detention centre “under the verdict” from a Moscow Municipal Court on 4 August 2023.

Navalny was condemned to 19 years in a “special regime” prison for “extremism.” Inmates in these prisons notoriously face the harshest conditions in the country.

“We don’t know to which destination exactly,” Iarmich wrote on X, specifying that the anti-corruption activist would have been moved on 11 December. 

His relatives have not heard from him since 6 December.

A court document, as reported by Kommersant, said Navalny’s arrival in his new penal colony could take place within the “framework of current legislation.”

Transfer of prisoners between different detention centres can take entire weeks in Russia.