MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/. Alexey Navalny has arrived in penal colony number 2 in Pokrov, in central Russia’s Vladimir Region, human rights activist Ruslan Vakhapov, who specializes in defending prisoners’ rights, told TASS.
"According to my information, Navalny has been recently taken to IK-2 in Pokrov. The reports about his arrival in this correctional facility were circulated among the penal colony’s inmates," Vakhapov said. In his words, Navalny’s arrival in this penal colony can be only confirmed after his lawyers’ visit.
"This will finally take all issues on Navalny’s imprisonment there off the table," he said. According to him, Navalny could be later transferred to another penal colony.
Earlier reports said that Navalny had been taken to the Vladimir Region on Friday. Yeva Merkacheva from Moscow’s Public Oversight Commission said Navalny would be sent to IK-2 colony in Pokrov, to the east of Moscow.
Navalny, who received suspended sentences for embezzlement twice, was wanted in Russia for repeated violations of conditions of his conviction in the Yves Rocher case. On January 17, 2021 he was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport upon arrival from Berlin. Moscow’s Khimki Court placed him under arrest. On February 2, Moscow’s Simonovsky District Court turned Alexey Navalny’s suspended sentence into real jail time. The ruling took effect after the Moscow City Court had upheld it on February 20.