Putin critic Navalny transferred to one of Russia’s ‘toughest, most torturous penal colonies’

Putin critic Alexei Navalny has been unexpectedly transferred to a new prison that his supporters are describing as “one of the toughest and most torturous in Russia”. 

The jailed Russian opposition leader – who received a 9-year sentence in March after being convicted of fraud charges he argues are politically-motivated – was taken from Correctional Colony No.2. in Prokov, about 65 miles outside of Moscow, to the IK-6 penal colony farther east in Melekhovo, according to Russian state media. 

“Even if the reports about Navalny being transferred to the Melekhovo Penal Colony are true, it is hardly a relief. This colony is known to be one of the toughest and most torturous in Russia,” Anna Veduta, the vice president of the Navalny-founded Anti-Corruption Foundation, said in a statement obtained by Fox News.  

“Before Navalny’s appeal to a nine-year sentence in a maximum-security prison was upheld, there were already rumors he would be transferred to this colony,” Veduta’s statement added. “Navalny passed a message saying: ‘the prisoners from the strict regime colony ‘Melekhovo’ write that prison authorities are equipping a ‘prison within a prison’ for me there. They say that if you Google ‘Melekhovo’ there will be stories of how they pull out convicts’ nails.” 

NAVALNY: RUSSIA’S UKRAINE INVASION IS PUTIN’S ‘STUPID WAR’ 

Navalny’s spokesperson said Tuesday that his legal team wasn’t made aware of the transfer. 

Kira Yarmysh tweeted that Navalny’s lawyer went to visit him at the Correctional Colony No. 2 facility, but after waiting at a checkpoint, was told by staff there that “there is no such convict here.” 

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