Alexei Navalny was transferred to an unknown location, according to his team. The Russian opposition leader has been serving a prison sentence in a penal colony for years, but it appears that he is no longer there.
The Kremlin critic is no longer registered in a penal colony east of Moscow. Navalny’s team reported that he had not been heard from for six days.
His staff raised the alarm last week after he was not present via video link during the trial, when this is usually the case. Also, no letters were delivered to and from the opposition leader for a week. The team is concerned, in part because Navalny has been suffering from health problems recently.
The opposition leader has regularly made his voice heard on social media from the maximum security penal colony through his team. But it was quiet there for a while.
His comrades made preparations for his possible transfer to a stricter penal colony. This measure came after Navalny was sentenced last August to another 19 years in prison on charges of extremism. This sentence is in addition to the eleven years to which he was previously sentenced. He says he was tried and convicted for political reasons.
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