WASHINGTON: The US on Saturday (Dec 23) voiced deepening concern over the destiny of imprisoned Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny, who has not been heard from since early December.
“We’re deeply involved in regards to the whereabouts of Alexei Navalny, who has now been lacking in Russia’s jail system for almost three weeks,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on X, the previous Twitter.
“We as soon as extra name for his quick launch and an finish to the continued repression of impartial voices in Russia.”
On Monday, United Nations rights skilled Mariana Katzarova joined a refrain of voices expressing concern at Navalny’s “enforced disappearance”.
The dissident’s attorneys say they’ve been unable to see or contact him since Dec 6.
On Dec 15, Navalny spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh stated a courtroom consultant informed her that he had been moved from a jail close to Moscow to an undisclosed location.
The shortage of updates may imply that Navalny is being transferred to a harsher jail, following a courtroom ruling earlier this yr.
The method can take weeks in Russia, the place prisoners are slowly moved by rail between far-flung amenities.
Navalny’s crew has stated his potential switch to a different jail has been purposefully timed because the Kremlin gears up for President Vladimir Putin’s anticipated re-election in March.
Navalny, 47, Putin’s predominant political opponent, was barred from working in elections in 2018 because of an outdated fraud cost that his allies stated was politically motivated.
He obtained a 19-year jail sentence in 2021 on prices of “extremism” after surviving a poisoning try on his life, for which he blamed Putin.
