FILE PHOTO: A still image taken from video footage shows Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is accused of flouting the terms of a suspended sentence for embezzlement, inside a defendant dock during the announcement of a court verdict in Moscow, Russia February 2, 2021. Press service of Simonovsky District Court/Handout via REUTERS
POKROV, Russia 鈥� 碍谤别尘濒颈苍听肠谤颈迟颈肠听Alexei听狈补惫补濒苍测听has been transferred to a penal colony outside Moscow to听蝉别谤惫别听his prison sentence, a public commission said on Sunday, weeks after he returned to Russia after being poisoned.
Navalny鈥榮 whereabouts had been unknown since Thursday when his allies learned that he was transferred out of one of听惭辞蝉肠辞飞鈥榮 most infamous听箩补颈濒s to an undisclosed location.
Navalny, 44, was arrested on his return from Germany last month and has been sentenced to more than 2-1/2 years for parole violations that he said were trumped up.
He has been transferred to a听辫别苍补濒听肠辞濒辞苍测听in the Vladimir region, the听惭辞蝉肠辞飞聽Public Monitoring Commission that defends the rights of prisoners and has access to people in custody, said on its website.
The state news agency TASS specified that听狈补惫补濒苍测听will听蝉别谤惫别听his听迟别谤尘听in听辫别苍补濒听肠辞濒辞苍测听number 2 in the town of Pokrov, about 100 km (60 miles) east of听惭辞蝉肠辞飞.
Reuters pictures showed metallic grey buildings behind a grey fence and barbed wire inside the听肠辞濒辞苍测, as well as the gold domes of a church. A guard at the gate asked reporters to keep a distance of at least 100 meters (yards) if they wanted to film it.
Ruslan Vakhapov, a local activist of the prisoners鈥� rights group听闯补颈濒ed Russia, described conditions as particularly severe.
鈥淚n short, it鈥檚 a bad听肠辞濒辞苍测,鈥� Ruslan Vakhapov told Reuters by phone.
Many prisoners cooperate with the聽肠辞濒辞苍测听administration and help them to control other inmates closely, abusing them if they violate a strict daily schedule, Vakhapov said.
鈥淚f there is a need to prevent听狈补惫补濒苍测听from communicating with others, nobody would talk to him,鈥� the activist said.
鈥�(If anything happens), he wouldn鈥檛 be able to ask for help until his lawyer arrives,鈥� he added.
A duty officer who took a call at the prison declined to answer questions about听狈补惫补濒苍测.
狈补惫补濒苍测听will be quarantined as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus before joining other prisoners in the听肠辞濒辞苍测, the monitoring commission said, according to the RIA news agency.
Earlier on Sunday a听狈补惫补濒苍测听ally, Leonid Volkov, called on Twitter for authorities to provide official information about his whereabouts and access to him by his lawyers.
Navalny, President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 most prominent听肠谤颈迟颈肠, suffered a near-fatal poisoning in Siberia in August with what many Western nations said was a nerve agent.听狈补惫补濒苍测听accuses Putin of ordering his attempted murder.
Putin has dismissed that, alleging听狈补惫补濒苍测听is part of a U.S.-backed dirty tricks campaign to discredit him.