Aleksei Navalny dies in Arctic prison camp
Russian prison services on Friday reported that the opposition politician died in the remote Arctic prison camp of Kharp.
According to prison services in the far northern Yamal-Nenets region Navalny started to feel bad after a walk in the prison yard. He fell unconscious and was provided medical aid, the Russian authority informs.
“All possible emergency assistance was provided, but it gave no positive results. The ambulance doctors confirmed the death of the prisoner,” the message reads.
“The cause of death is being established,” it adds.
Health authorities in the region told Interfax that the first aid of the medical staff proceeded for more than half and hour.
“It took the ambulance seven minutes to get to the prison and another two minutes to make it to the patient, and the first aid lasted for more than half an hour,” a representative of the local hospital told the news agency.
Aleksei Navalny had been sentenced to 19 years of jail for his opposition to Vladimir Putin. He was behind bars in a prison in Vladimir region before he in late 2023 was transferred to the far northern prison camp.
After more than three weeks of unknown whereabouts, the jailed politician in late 2023 appeared in Colony No 3 in Kharp.
Shortly after he arrived to the settlement located north of the Arctic Circle, one of his lawyers showed up by the prison gate to meet the inmate.
In a long tweet, Navalny with humour described his new place of confinement.
“Well, I now have a sheepskin coat, an ushanka hat (a fur hat with ear-covering flaps), and soon I will get valenki (a traditional Russian winter footwear). I have grown a beard for the 20 days of my transportation,” he wrote on X.
Navalny argued that he looks a bit like Santa Clause. But he still has not seen any reindeer, only very beautiful shepherd dogs, he said.
The prisoner in Kharp is like Hell, the wife of a former inmate says.
The Kharp penal colony No 3 is one of Russia’s northernmost prisons. It is located on the Nenets tundra about 30 km from Labytnangi, the town built by Gulag prisoners during the Stalin era.
Since he returned to Russia after his poisoning by the FSB and recovery in Germany, Aleksei Navalny has gotten several prison terms. His total sentence now amounts to about 19 years.
Navalny is seen as the biggest hate-object of Russia’s dictatorial ruler Vladimir Putin, and the trials against him all fabricated and politically motivated.
Navalny’s Press Secretary Kira Yarmysh on Friday afternoon told MediaZona that she so far has gotten no confirmation of the death beyond the information from the Yamal-Nenets prison service.
“Aleksei’s lawyer now flies to Kharp. As soon as we have some information we will let you know,” she says in a comment on Telegram.
In a comment to RusNews, Russian researcher in exile Yekaterina Shulman says she one week ago heard an audio recording of Navalny from a court hearing in Kharp.
“This was the voice of a healthy, energetic and unexhausted person,” she says.
“One week ago, he was healthy and full of force. No other version than murder is left to believe in,” she says to the Telegram channel.
The court hearings continued on the 15th of February, and also here Navalny appears healthy and in good spirit.
This story is being updated
