Navalny still missing – court suspends proceedings
Published: Monday, Dec 18th 2023, 15:50
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The Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who has been missing in custody for almost two weeks, once again failed to appear at a court hearing on Monday.
The judge in the Vladimir region has therefore suspended the proceedings until the politician's whereabouts are clarified, Navalny's team announced. The opposition figure's lawyers criticized the court for violating Russian law. "The judge has simply abdicated his duty to administer justice instead of ensuring the appearance of the plaintiff," Navalny's lawyers said.
The UN Human Rights Council's Special Representative for the situation in Russia, Mariana Katzarova from Bulgaria, expressed her concern in Geneva on Monday. The risk of human rights violations is particularly high when prisoners are transferred to other prisons, she said. She demanded the immediate release of Navalny and other arbitrarily detained prisoners, as well as compensation for their suffering.
Navalny, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison for alleged extremism, among other things, has repeatedly filed lawsuits against the prison system for violating his rights. There has been no trace of Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest opponent since the beginning of December. "Alexei should have had seven court hearings today," said his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh on Monday. There is great concern for the 47-year-old because he is in poor health.
Prison staff had once again only informed the court that Navalny was no longer in the IK-6 prison camp around 260 kilometers east of Moscow in the Vladimir region. However, there is still no information about his whereabouts. Navalny's lawyers also accused the prison of lying because the employees had recently stated that the politician would not be connected to the court hearings via video for technical reasons.
When asked by the judge why Navalny had been transferred from the camp, the representatives of the prison system replied: "to serve his sentence". "Over the weekend, the lawyers made inquiries in more than 200 remand prisons. We are waiting for answers," said Navalny's colleague Leonid Volkov.
At the beginning of December, the Kremlin's opponents around Navalny also launched the "Russia without Putin" campaign, with which they are calling on voters to express their protest by voting for other candidates ahead of the presidential election on March 17. Putin is contesting the vote for the fifth time, and potential contenders are considered to have no chance.
Navalny, who also survived an assassination attempt using the nerve agent Novichok in 2020, has been in custody for almost three years. He has been internationally recognized as a political prisoner.
©Keystone/SDA
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