Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been transferred to a maximum security prison in the village of Melekhovo in the Vladimir region. Regional Public Monitoring Commission Chairman Sergey Yazhan reported the news to RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
“He [Navalny] has arrived at IK-6 [the prison in Melekhovo]. He’s arrived and is there now,” said Yazhan.
Earlier on June 14, associates of Navalny reported that he had been transferred out of Correctional Colony No. 2 in Pokrov but that his new location was unknown.
On March 22, Moscow's Lefortovo court sentenced Navalny to nine years in a maximum security prison on charges of fraud and contempt of court. The Moscow city court upheld the verdict on March 24.
In early May, Navalny reported that he might be taken to Melekhovo. “My sentence hasn’t come into effect yet, but inmates at the maximum security prison have reported that a ‘prison within the prison’ is being prepared for me there,” said Navalny. He didn’t specify what they meant by a “prison within the prison.”