Navalny emerges in prison in Russia’s Vladimir region and meets lawyers

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny shares a quarantine cell in central Russia, allies said on Wednesday, revealing his location for the first time since being transferred from prison to Moscow last week to serve a sentence of 2-1 / 2 years in a penal colony.

The fate of Navalny, 44, had been a mystery since leaving Moscow prison.

His lawyer Vadim Kobzev told Reuters he met Navalny at Kolchugino prison in the Vladimir region northeast of Moscow. Navalny was feeling good despite the difficulties, Kobzev said.

The TASS news agency, citing a law enforcement source, said Navalny was being held there for quarantine before being transferred to the IK-2 penal colony, also in the Vladimir region. The quarantine could last 15 days, he said.

On his Twitter thread, Kobzev said Navalny shared the cell with two other people, but was isolated from the outside world without letters.

“There is nothing in the cell except a television. There is no refrigerator or even a teapot.”

The activists described the conditions in the penal colony as particularly dire.

Navalny, who recovered in Germany from what German authorities say was poisoning with a banned nerve agent, was arrested upon his return in January and sentenced for parole violations he said were fabricated from the outside. rooms.

His illness and imprisonment sparked a diplomatic conflict between Russia and the West.