Alexei Navalny did not appear in court on Monday and no one seems to know where he is. A disappearance which can be linked to the hazards of the transfer from one penal colony to another for the famous Russian opponent. But those close to him denounce a “forced disappearance” while President Vladimir Putin has just launched the campaign for his re-election.
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He should have attended. If only by video link from his place of detention. But the famous Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny was conspicuously absent from the hearing which was held on Monday December 18 at the court in the Vladimir region, about a hundred kilometers east of Moscow.
He was to be heard in seven cases, but the judges decided to postpone these sessions until we had “managed to establish where he was,” Kira Yarmysh, a Russian writer, told the X network. part of Alexei Navalny’s team of assistants. She specifies that the Russian activist’s relatives have contacted nearly 200 detention centers in Russia in the hope of hearing from him. No result.
Prisoners who disappear
It has now been almost 15 days since Alexeï Navalny has given any sign of life. The fact that he was not even able to appear before the judges increased the concern of his family, his loved ones and his supporters about his state of health. “I am deeply concerned that the Russian authorities are not providing any information on the location and well-being of Alexei Navalny for such a prolonged period, which amounts to an enforced disappearance,” responded Mariana Katzarova, rapporteur special report on the human rights situation in Russia.
The last time Alexei Navalny’s lawyers heard from their client was on December 5, a few days before Vladimir Putin announced his candidacy for his own re-election in the presidential election on March 17.
Enough to worry those close to him about a maneuver by the authorities to silence – perhaps permanently – one of the main detractors of the master of the Kremlin, notes the Guardian.
Before imagining the worst, “we want to be optimistic, hoping that this is just a story of transfer (between penal colonies, Editor’s note)”, comments Morvan Lallouet, specialist in contemporary Russia at the University of Kent and co-author of “Alexeï Navalny: The man who defies Putin” (ed. Tallendier).
This is in fact “the first hypothesis to consider because transfers of detainees from one prison to another are often carried out in such conditions that individuals disappear for weeks”, confirms Oleg Kozlovsky, Russia specialist at Amnesty International. . The NGO has been denouncing for almost ten years this prison system which “violates human rights”, underlines the researcher.
Destination: a “special regime” penal colony
Alexeï Navalny risked this type of transfer since his last sentence on August 4 to an additional 19 years in prison for “extremism”. The Russian activist must serve his sentence in a “special regime” colony. “Until now, Alexeï Navalny was in a ‘strict regime’ penal colony, which is just one step below the ‘special regime’ establishments, the harshest and supposed to be reserved for criminals deemed the most dangerous,” summarizes Oleg Kozlovsky.
Concretely, this transfer should allow the authorities “to impose even harsher conditions of detention in solitary confinement for Alexeï Navalny and even further from Moscow, in order to make any communication with his relatives and his lawyers all the more complicated”, details the Amnesty International specialist.
Before arriving at their destination, transferred detainees must travel for weeks, without knowing where they are going, usually on special trains. “Transport conditions are very archaic, with overcrowded cells, often without a hot meal throughout the transfer. It is also almost impossible to rest,” says Oleg Kozlovsky.
“There is probably someone in the administration who said to themselves that it was the right time to transfer Alexei Navalny and thus make him de facto disappear during the first month of the electoral campaign” , estimates Stephen Hall, specialist in Russian politics at the University of Bath.
Indeed, even locked in a very strict penal colony, the Russian opponent continued to communicate with the world. In a video posted online on December 7, he called on Russians to vote for any candidate “except Vladimir Putin”. “It is very surprising that in today’s Russia – very controlled – someone like Alexei Navalny has been able to continue to make himself heard for so long, including from prison,” underlines Stephen Hall.
“We are currently witnessing such a hardening of repression, both against leading dissidents and grassroots activists, that it would seem in the logic of things that those in power are seeking to restrict as much as possible Alexei Navalny’s access to the outside world,” adds Morvan Lallouet.
Concern over Navalny’s state of health
There is also another hypothesis that should not be overlooked. “It is possible that the authorities are trying to hide the deterioration of Alexeï Navalny’s state of health,” suggests Morvan Lallouet.
This has been a sensitive subject since the start of the Russian opponent’s detention in January 2021. Alexeï Navalny was arrested on the day of his return to Russia, after being treated in Germany, where he was urgently taken to following a poisoning attempt in Siberia.
Since then, those close to Alexeï Navalny have denounced the lack of care provided in detention and the conditions of incarceration – in particular long periods in solitary confinement – which would only worsen his state of health. Last January, more than 200 Russian doctors even took the initiative of signing an open letter addressed to Vladimir Putin to ask for better medical care for the famous detainee.
Shortly before his disappearance, he “would have had a serious health incident”, said Maria Pevchikh, director of the board of directors of Alexeï Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation, on Twitter.
“The transfer of a prisoner cannot last more than a month,” concludes Oleg Kozlovsky. If Alexeï Navalny has not given any sign of life by the start of next year, his disappearance is probably not only linked to a slightly deeper dive into Russian prison hell.
