Alexei Navalny, the best-known opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, previously went to Germany for medical treatment after a toxic attack. A court this month sentenced him to two years and six months in exile for violating the terms of his parole for past offenses while in Germany.
Navalny’s allies were unaware of his whereabouts for several days. The director of the Federal Prison Service said on 26 May that Navalny had been taken from a detention center in Moscow to a place of exile, but gave no further details.
Information about where Navalny may be has appeared in the Russian media this weekend from unnamed sources. The Moscow Public Committee followed up with a statement today that Navalny is in an institution owned by the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Vladimir district.
“We have 100 percent certainty that Navalny has arrived in the Vladimir district to serve his sentence,” committee member Alexei Melnikov told Interfax.
Melnikov said, “First he will be placed in quarantine, then he will be transferred to his place of exile.”
Navalny was previously poisoned by the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, which nearly killed him, and spent months in Germany before recovering. Navalny says Putin ordered the attack.
Navalny, 44, was arrested immediately upon his return to Moscow last month, sparking a wave of protests across the country that were brutally suppressed by police.
Western leaders have condemned Russia’s detention of Navalny and demanded his immediate release. The European Union (EU) has also agreed to sanction four senior Russian officials over the crackdown.
Recent Comments