After two weeks without word from Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s most distinguished opposition determine, his attorneys and allies, fearing the worst, are operating a frantic marketing campaign to seek out him.
Their efforts have included requesting information from dozens of Russian prisons and taking to social media to boost consciousness of Mr. Navalny’s disappearance and to name on the Russian authorities to disclose his whereabouts.
Many Russians dwelling overseas have gone to their nation’s diplomatic missions to protest. Some have held up posters saying “Where is Navalny?”
Dmitri S. Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin, advised journalists on Friday that the Kremlin had “neither the possibility, nor rights or desire to trace the fate of convicts,” referring to Mr. Navalny.
Here’s what we learn about Mr. Navalny and his disappearance.
When did Mr. Navalny disappear?
The final time Mr. Navalny’s attorneys heard from him was on Dec. 5. The next day, one among his attorneys waited for seven hours exterior the penal colony the place Mr. Navalny was being saved however was not allowed to see him, Kira Yarmysh, a spokeswoman for Mr. Navalny said. Mr. Navalny then failed to appear by video hyperlink at a scheduled courtroom listening to the following day, Dec. 7.
Within the days after Mr. Navalny’s disappearance, his allies grew extra alarmed as letters despatched to him went undelivered and the authorities declined to disclose his location to his attorneys. On Dec. 11, officers within the jail colony that had been holding Mr. Navalny — in Melekhovo, a city about 160 miles east of Moscow — told his lawyers that he was now not listed amongst its inmates, Ms. Yarmysh mentioned.
Mr. Navalny was scheduled to look for varied courtroom hearings on Monday, she added. One of many courts at which he was supposed to look suspended his case as a result of it couldn’t find him, Vyacheslav Gimadi, a member of Mr. Navalny’s authorized staff, posted on social media.
The place might he be?
As a part of his final sentence, delivered by a Russian court in August after a conviction for supporting “extremism,” Mr. Navalny was scheduled to be transferred to one among Russia’s “special regime” colonies, recognized for his or her harsh therapy of inmates. There are a minimum of 25 such prisons, scattered throughout Russia from the nation’s European half to the Arctic Circle and the Far East.
However he had not been moved by early December. Mr. Navalny recommended in a series of social media posts in November that the explanation was as a result of Russian investigators had been unwilling to journey to distant particular regime colonies as they pursued additional instances towards him.
If he has now been moved to a kind of penal colonies, which may clarify his present disappearance.
Detainees being transferred to distant prisons in Russia can spend lengthy weeks being shuttled between trains in particular jail rail vehicles and have little or no entry to the skin world.
By legislation, kinfolk ought to obtain notification inside 10 days after an inmate’s arrival at a brand new vacation spot, normally by mail, and such a letter can take as much as 20 days to reach, mentioned Yevgeny Smirnov, a Russian lawyer. In accordance with Mr. Smirnov, the Russian jail system considers details about such transfers a state secret.
“A transfer between prisons is the most dangerous time for a convict,” Mr. Smirnov mentioned in a response to written questions. “During that period, they change a multitude of transit points and remain without any way to contact the outside world,” he added. He additionally famous that, based mostly on previous expertise, prisoners may very well be in transit and incommunicado for 2 to 3 months.
Final week, Baza, a Russian information outlet, reported that Mr. Navalny had been transferred to a detention middle in Moscow to await trial on one other felony cost. However Ivan Zhdanov, the top of Mr. Navalny’s anticorruption basis, reported that the group had checked all Moscow detention facilities with out discovering him.
On Saturday, Olga Romanova, a Russian jail rights activist, said on Facebook that Mr. Navalny was present process therapy in a jail hospital within the metropolis of Vladimir, close to Melekhovo. However that assertion has not been verified.
Why was Mr. Navalny imprisoned?
Mr. Navalny, 47, is the one Russian opposition determine of the previous decade to mount a major political problem to Mr. Putin. He established a sturdy group, drawing hundreds of Russians to his rallies nationwide, and engaged many younger individuals in politics.
He has been in custody in Russia since his detention in January 2021 in a Moscow airport, the place he arrived after spending months in Germany recovering from poisoning by a nerve agent. Mr. Navalny and Western governments accused the Kremlin of poisoning him, which Russian officers denied.
Since then, the Russian authorities have introduced forth a mess of latest prices towards Mr. Navalny. According to Ms. Yarmysh, he’s at the moment a defendant in 14 felony instances and faces potential sentences of as much as 35 years in jail.
What actions did he pursue in jail?
Since coming into the Russian jail system, Mr. Navalny has filed a string of lawsuits towards the authorities.
A lawyer by occupation, he has filed fits demanding entry to first rate dental care, complaining about loudspeakers in his cell that repeatedly aired Mr. Putin’s speeches and protesting towards wiretapping in a room he makes use of to satisfy with attorneys.
Regardless of his imprisonment in more and more harsh circumstances, Mr. Navalny has remained a major voice in Russian political life. With the assistance of his attorneys and political allies, he has printed articles and manifestoes, and recurrently posts on social media.
Since Mr. Navalny’s disappearance, his allies have known as on his followers to vote for any candidate apart from Mr. Putin in the presidential election in March, aiming to amplify the seen dissent towards Mr. Putin’s insurance policies, together with the invasion of Ukraine.
