In February, Navalny, considered a major figure in opposition to the politics of President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, was commuted to life imprisonment by a court in February. Opposition parties have stated they will not run in the by-elections, but will seek redressal of their grievances after he was treated in Germany last year. He now faces up to 2.5 years in prison for fraud.
At the end of February, Navalnyj was transferred from the Moscow Detention Center to a similar Kolchukino facility. There he must be temporarily in an isolated cell before taking his sentence. On Friday, Toss wrote to an informed source that opponents were already in the IK-2 prison colony in Pokmon. It is about a hundred kilometers east of the Russian capital, Reuters writes.
Western nations have repeatedly called on the Kremlin to release Navalny. The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on several Russian officials over his poisoning and imprisonment.
Last August, Navalny crashed on a plane en route from Siberian Tomsk to Moscow. He was then unknowingly taken to Berlin for treatment. According to a German military laboratory, he was poisoned by a banned nerve agent from a new group. Russia’s secret service FSB The Kremlin denies all allegations and questions about whether Navalny drank poison.