Kremlin opponent Navalny was believed to have disappeared for more than two weeks. Now there is a first video from the new camp in the far north. His team is now calling for protests.
A few weeks after his transfer to a new prison camp in the far north of Russia, a video of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny emerged for the first time. The short clip published by Russian media comes from a video link through which Navalny was connected to a court hearing in the Vladimir region, not far from Moscow.
He was doing well, he told the journalists sitting there in front of the screen. “There’s just one problem,” he added in his usual joking manner. “But I don’t know which court to turn to about this: the weather is bad.”
First sign of life after weeks of searching
It was only announced at the end of December that the 47-year-old had been transferred to the remote “Polarwolf” prison camp in the Yamal region, far from the center of power in Moscow. His supporters had previously searched for him for weeks because the Russian penal system did not give them any information about Navalny’s whereabouts.
At the time, his relatives reacted with relief to the first sign of life – but at the same time they emphasized that President Vladimir Putin’s power apparatus probably wanted to isolate the Kremlin opponent even more in the camp, which is considered to be particularly brutal.
This week it also became known that Navalny would again be placed in solitary confinement for an alleged violation of the rules. He often had to endure this punitive measure in his old camp; Human rights activists see this as a form of torture and an attempt to break the will of the opposition politician.
Third year in prison: protests in Germany
Meanwhile, to mark the third anniversary of his imprisonment, Navalny’s supporters called for demonstrations around the world on January 21st. “Don’t let Putin win,” wrote Navalny’s chief strategist Leonid Volkov, who fled abroad, on his Telegram channel. However, demonstrations are only planned abroad – also because of the strong repression in Russia.
Demonstrations should be particularly active in Germany. Ten venues are listed here: Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Hanover, Saarbrücken, Ludwigshafen and Göttingen.
Navalny was sentenced to a total of 19 years in a camp for alleged “extremism,” among other things. Internationally, however, the politician, who narrowly survived an assassination attempt with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020, is classified as a political prisoner. Human rights organizations have long called for Navalny’s release.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
