Navalny’s Whereabouts Remain Unclear, Leaving Public Hoping for the Best

Russian authorities recently jailed Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader (Wikimedia Commons).

Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was moved from his Moscow prison to a new facility on February 25, but major news agencies report mixed information regarding Navalny’s whereabouts. While some sources allege Navalny has been moved to penal colony IK-2, his lawyer and Instagram page claim he remains in a pre-trial detention center, SIZO-3.

Navalny rose to prominence by blogging about Russian corruption, drawing the attention of Russian officials. A Moscow court spared Navalny of jail time after a 2014 fraud conviction. Navalny was poisoned in a Siberian airport in August 2020 while attempting to return home to Moscow. He was held at a Siberian hospital before eventually being allowed to fly to Berlin for treatment, where he remained for 5 months until January 17. Upon returning to Moscow, he was detained for violating his probation, a charge Navalny believes was fabricated to silence his dissent. 

Many news sources have reported that Navalny will spend two and a half years at IK-2, a penal colony about 60 miles outside of Moscow. Russian penal colonies were modeled after the gulags of the 1930s. Barracks house several dozen inmates sleeping in rows, and the facility is surrounded by high walls and razor wire. At IK-2, like most penal colonies, prisoners work long labor shifts, usually sewing clothes in poor conditions. 

What separates IK-2 from the rest is its reputed psychologically torturous environment. The prison administration often leaves inmates in constant fear of punishment by inventing arbitrary rules and subjecting inmates to random checks. Guards also turn prisoners against one another by imposing collective punishments for individual misbehavior. 

Several former inmates also described Navalny’s new prison as harsh, alleging beatings at the hands of both guards and fellow prisoners. One prisoner told the Moscow Times, “There is a whole system in place that permits daily violence and humiliation.” Another former inmate said that the colony does not allow emails, and guards take weeks or even months to read through letters. He added that Navalny may have been sent to IK-2 precisely due to the facility’s reputation for repression. 

While most publications have claimed Navalny is currently held at IK-2, Russian outlet Meduza reports that Navalny is, in fact, still in SIZO-3, a pre-detention center. According to Vadim Kobzev, one of Navalny’s lawyers and Meduza’s source, Navalny has been watching television and drinking tea. He is currently in a “quarantine cell,” where prisoners at SIZO-3 typically begin their detainment, but he has been permitted to see his lawyers. A post on Navalny’s Instagram page corroborates that he is currently in SIZO-3, not IK-2.

Regardless of his current location, Navalny’s imprisonment has prompted outrage across Russia and in the international community. Navalny’s initial arrest sparked protests across Russia, and the EU and the U.S. announced sanctions on Russian officials and organizations on March 3 for Navalny’s poisoning and detainment.
While Navalny has so far avoided time at the penal colony, Kobzev warns that there is nothing stopping authorities from relocating Navalny on a whim. Navalny’s team plans to appeal the ruling and request Navalny’s full participation in further proceedings.