Own Alexei Navalny He expressed how far away his new prison place was when he was transferred just two months ago, in December 2023, to the so-called 'The polar wolf' or 'the hell of the arctic'as they have called the IK-3, the feared prison in Siberia where they take “especially dangerous” prisoners.
Navalni said at that time that the place was so far from Moscow that the route for his transfer It took about 20 days and he described it as “quite tiring”. The conditions of the IK-3located in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, in Western Siberia, are as extreme as they come.
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The weather less than 40 degrees. Surveillance at every step of the prisoners due to the danger they represent. The torture suffered by many of those detained, according to the complaints of their defenders. The distance and separation from every loved one. Everything in this place, according to the descriptions of lawyers, makes it known as a white hell.
This high-security prison was founded in 1961 and has capacity for about 1,000 inmates. In addition to Navalni, another of the 'famous' prisoners is Platon Lebedevwho was a business partner of the exoligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
In the case of Lebedev, the Russian justice system found him guilty of tax evasion, money laundering and fraud and he remains in prison. On some occasions he has been in the news for his terrible health conditions.
(Also: World leaders react to the death of Navalny, opponent of Vladimir Putin)
Hostile environment in the IK-3
International media describe the 'Polar wolf' like a prison with a completely hostile environment. In 'El Español' they cite statements by Maxim Bakhvalov, who was imprisoned there between 2017 and 2020, in which he pointed out that there are few elements to protect oneself from the extreme cold, in addition to “suffer physical and psychological brutality.”
We found Navalny. He is alive. He was transported to a penal colony in the town of Kharp. It is one of the most remote prisons in Russia located in the far north, beyond the Arctic Circle. Daylight there currently lasts less than two hours. pic.twitter.com/yyrj7S9tgY
— Maria Pevchikh (@pevchikh) December 25, 2023
Another of the prisoners who left that prison to tell how he survived, in statements reported by the same media, said that “when the prisoners enter the colony, they take them to the bathrooms. When a person undresses and goes to wash, they “They cut off the water and people with masks come in and start beating him.”
(Of interest: Who was Alexei Navalny? The Russian opponent of Vladimir Putin who died in prison)
The BBC in London, for its part, explained that these special regime prison colonies are institutions with the most severe detention conditions. According to the Russian Criminal Code, those convicted are sent to life imprisonment or to “recidivism of especially dangerous crimes.”
These spaces, furthermore, are a kind of descendant of the gulags from the Soviet era, places designed as work camps where thousands of Russians lost their lives between 1930 and 1950.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Kirill Kudryavtsev. AFP
What is known about Navalni's death
The initial report of the Yamalo-Nenets Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia confirmed that Alexei Navalni's death occurred on IK-3. Apparently, Vladimir Putin's opponent felt unwell after a walk and lost consciousness.
Navalni, 47, was considered a figure of the opposition to the government in Russia. The politician and lawyer was convicted in 2021 for a fraud case that his followers and supporters have described as “fabricated” by Vladimir Putin's government. And in 2023, in August, he received another 19 years for “extremism.” At that time he was transferred to IK-3.
![Navalny](https://www.eltiempo.com/files/article_content_new/uploads/2022/03/22/6239c5051ee01.jpeg)
Alexei Navalny during the indictment of charges in Russia.
FE/EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV
Navalni's wife, Yulia Navalnayasaid this Friday that President Vladimir Putin and his entourage “will pay” for the death of her husband in an Arctic prison in Russia.
“This is terrible news that we receive, news that we only receive from official media. For many years (…) we cannot believe either Putin or his government. They lie constantly. But if this is true, I would like Putin and his government to know. everyone around them – their Government, their friends – who will be punished for what they have done to our country, my family and my husband,” Navalnaya said.
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