Alexey Navalny shows his handcuffed hands during a court hearing Moscow, 30 March 2017. Photo: EPA-EFE / SERGEI ILNITSKY
The staff at the penal colony where the late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny spent most of his prison term deliberately created unbearable conditions for him, independent news outlet Meduza reported on Monday.
The claims were made after an anonymous source handed Meduza a cache of emails to and from Ilya Kruglyshev, the head of the regional Federal Penitentiary Service’s (FSIN) legal service. Kruglyshev, who has been sanctioned by the European Union since March, represented the staff of penal colony IK-6 in central Russia’s Vladimir region against Navalny.
Kruglyshev’s correspondence with prison staff revealed how paperwork relating to Navalny was doctored, for example, one message he received in October 2023 gave two conflicting reasons for Navalny being deprived of the right to go for a walk.
Kruglyshev’s emails also showed that prison staff read Navalny’s mail, listened in to his telephone conversations with family members and went through all the paperwork he exchanged with his lawyers in attempts to preempt social media posts made by Navalny’s team in his name.
The emails also revealed that prison staff covered the transparent glass in the room where Navalny met with his lawyers and sealed the slot through which they could exchange paperwork, according to Meduza.
Kruglyshev’s email also showed that Navalny’s first medical examination at IK-6 revealed him to be suffering from high blood pressure, but that he was given no medication. In at least five of 22 further medical reports seen by Meduza, Navalny was found to have high blood pressure, but was still deemed “fit for detention” in a punishment cell.
Navalny was held at IK-6 from June 2022 until December 2023, when he was suddenly transferred to a penal colony in Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous district, in the Russian Arctic, where he died on 16 February. In September, Russian independent media outlet The Insider found evidence that Navalny had been poisoned in the colony.
