Prison says Alexey Navalny no longer listed as inmate after associates unable to contact him for six days

Employees at Penal Colony No. 6 in Russia’s Vladimir region, where Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny has been held since June 2022, said Monday that Navalny is “no longer listed” in the prison’s roster of inmates, according to the politician’s lawyer.

“They’re refusing to say where he was sent,” said Navalny’s press secretary, Kira Yarmysh. She added that officials at Penal Colony No. 7, another prison in the region, said Navalny is not there either.

“On Friday and all day today, nobody at Penal Colony No. 6 or Penal Colony No. 7 would answer us. Evidently, they’ve now been instructed to. Alexey’s whereabouts remain unknown,” Yarmysh said.

Earlier on Monday, Navalny failed to appear by video call at a scheduled court hearing. Last week, Penal Colony No. 6 refused to let his lawyer in to visit him. December 11 marks the sixth day that his associates have been unable to communicate with him or find him.