Vladimir Putin’s principal political opponent Alexei Navalny is lacking after being eliminated by officers from a jail colony in Russia, his allies say.
The alarm was raised after the politician failed to point out for a scheduled courtroom look by way of videolink on Monday, with buddies saying that they had additionally not heard from him in six days.
The 47-year-old has been behind bars since January 2021 on what supporters say are politically-motivated prices.
Latest: Follow updates from the Russia-Ukraine warfare
Mr Navalny was transferred to the IK-6 jail in Melekhovo, east of Moscow, final yr, however his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh mentioned employees there had now confirmed he had been faraway from the power.
She added on X, previously Twitter: “Where they have taken him, they refuse to say.”
Ms Yarmysh mentioned jail officers claimed he had not appeared by way of videolink as anticipated due to “electricity problems”.
It comes simply days after Mr Putin introduced he would stand for re-election subsequent yr – probably preserving him in energy till a minimum of 2030.
Mr Navalny’s aide Leonid Volkov additionally posted on X that the timing was “0% coincidence and 100% direct manual political control from the Kremlin.”
He added: “It is no secret to Putin who his main opponent is in these ‘elections’. And he wants to make sure that Navalny’s voice is not heard.”
The politician has been one of many Russian president’s fiercest critics in recent times and helped organise large-scale anti-Kremlin protests.
But he was arrested in January 2021 after returning to Moscow from Germany, the place he had been recuperating from being poisoned by a nerve agent.
Mr Navalny blamed the Kremlin for the assault, an allegation denied by Russian authorities.
Read extra:
Who is the jailed Putin critic some Russians hope might overthrow him?
Russian president greeted with jets, horses, camels and flags at COP28
Mr Navalny misplaced an enchantment in September towards a 19-year jail time period for alleged extremist exercise which was handed down in August and got here on prime of an current 11-and-a-half yr sentence for fraud and different prices.
Following the most recent sentencing his allies mentioned that they had been anticipating him to be moved to a “special regime” jail colony, the harshest grade in Russia’s jail system, however had not been given any additional data.
Supporters mentioned employees at one other jail colony, IK-7, had additionally denied they have been holding Mr Navalny.
However, it might probably take weeks for prisoners to be transferred between jails and households are typically not advised about their kin’ whereabouts till they attain their vacation spot.
A Russian lawyer, who needed to stay nameless, advised Sky News authorized representatives often submit an official request to search out out the place their shoppers are.
“Sometimes they [the colony authorities] simply show you on the database right on the spot, sometimes they just name the region where they are,” they mentioned, however added that responses various.
Mr Navalny denies all prices towards him.
The Kremlin is but to remark, though it has beforehand accused opposition figures corresponding to Mr Navalny of getting hyperlinks with Western intelligence businesses which they are saying wish to destabilise Russia.
Source: information.sky.com”