Kremlin Shrugs After Putin Critic Alexey Navalny ‘Disappeared’ In Prison System

Jailed Putin critic and anti-Kremlin activist Alexei Navalny has been reportedly ‘disappeared’ within Russia’s prison system, as his lawyers say they haven’t known his whereabouts since Dec. 6 – and he’s believed to have been transferred from his prison in central Russia to another unknown location.

“We don’t know where he could have been transferred,” Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh was cited in regional media as saying. “We currently have no information.”

“Prisoner transfers are dangerous primarily because, during this time, a person is deprived of all protection and assistance,” she had explained shortly after his legal team lost all contact.

As of Friday, the Kremlin still says it has “no information” on his whereabouts when pressed by his lawyers. The head of his legal team, Vyacheslav Gimadi, said: “We don’t know [where he is] for the 10th day.”

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov shrugged it off as but a normal part of the Russian administrative system surrounding prisoners and penal colonies. When peppered by questions from reporters, Peskov responded, “No. I repeat again: we do not have the capacity, or right, or desire, to track the fates of those prisoners who are serving sentences by order of a court.”

Al Jazeera details of the latest that “Prison officials told a court on Friday that Navalny had left the IK-6 facility in the town of Melekhovo in the Vladimir region, about 230km (140 miles) east of Moscow, according to Vyacheslav Gimadi, the head of the legal department at Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.” And further:

His allies had been preparing for his expected transfer to a “special regime” high-security facility, the harshest grade in Russia’s prison system, before he was moved.

For various countries’ prison systems, including Russia’s, it’s normal that when an inmate is transferred there’s some degree of a lapse in time before family members or lawyers are then later informed where they were moved to.

However, Navalny’s legal team and supporters have long waged a somewhat successful PR campaign to keep his name in the news. For example, Navalny ally Maria Pevchikh is pressuring the United Nations Human Rights Committee to help find his exact whereabouts. “What is happening with Alexey is, in fact, an enforced disappearance and a flagrant violation of his fundamental rights. Answers must be given,” she said.

Russian opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has not been seen in more than a week. His disappearance coincides with the start of the Russian election season.

Navalny's lawyers were told Friday that he was moved to a different facility. https://t.co/XnflsXQtIB

— Axios (@axios) December 15, 2023

His supporters also claim Navalny has the potential to disrupt Putin’s 2024 reelection plans, however, it remains that the opposition activist barely has name recognition inside Russia. In August, he was handed an additional 19 years in prison for charges of “extremism” on top of the 11 and a half he was already serving.