Putin Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Risks Execution After 'Disappearing' From Russian Jail: Report
Dec. 18 2023, Published 3:30 p.m. ET
Vladimir Putin opposition leader Alexei Navalny is reportedly at risk of execution after abruptly disappearing from his jail cell earlier this month, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a concerning development to come after Navalny, 47, disappeared from the IK-6 penal colony on December 6, sources close to the anti-corruption activist expressed fear that he might be executed.
“We are worried for his life,” said Maria Pevchikh, the leader of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. “He’s in the hands of the very same people who tried to kill him before.”
“If they once got an authorization to murder Navalny, do they have another one now or is the last one still valid,” she continued. “Navalny’s life is constantly at a high risk.”
Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, confirmed that the Putin opposition leader was missing from Russia’s penal system on Friday.
“Where he was taken is not known,” Yarmysh said. “Let me remind you that the lawyers have not seen Alexei since December 6.”
“Why they were not allowed to meet with him, if Alexei was still in IK-6, we do not know,” she added.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the matter and warned the West not to get involved.
“Here we are talking about a prisoner who has been found guilty under the law and is serving his sentence,” Peskov said over the weekend. “And here we consider any interference by anyone, including the U.S., as unacceptable and impossible.”
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As RadarOnline.com reported, Putin was previously accused of trying to take Navalny’s life in August 2020 after the anti-corruption activist was poisoned with a nerve agent during a flight from Siberia to Moscow.
Navalny was ordered to return to Russia in January 2021 after he recovered from the alleged assassination attempt in Germany.
He was then arrested upon his return to Russia and sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison for the “charges” against him.
Although Navalny was initially placed in a penal colony close to Moscow, he was later moved to the IK-6 penal colony “torture prison” roughly 250 miles east of the Russian capital in June 2022 “without warning.”
Navalny has long been a critic of Putin, and in May 2022 – after failing to successfully appeal his 12-year prison sentence for fraud and contempt of court – the opposition leader slammed Putin and the Russian leader’s invasion of Ukraine.
"You will suffer a historic defeat in this stupid war that you started,” Navalny charged at the time. “It has no purpose or meaning. Why are we fighting a war?"
Meanwhile, the anti-corruption activist’s supporters recently suggested that Navalny was secretly moved by Kremlin officials to prevent the opposition leader from interfering in Putin’s 2024 re-election campaign.
Russia’s next presidential election is scheduled for March 2024, and only one other Russian politician has announced a bid to challenge Putin’s campaign.