Lawyers say Alexei Navalny cannot be reached in prison

• Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s lawyers say he is now missing.
• His lawyers announced on Monday that they could not contact him, and the prison authorities would not determine his whereabouts.
• Navalny is a long-time critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny cannot be found in the penal colony where he was serving his decades-long prison sentences, lawyers said Monday.

It is no longer possible for Navalny, who is imprisoned in a penal colony about 120 miles east of Moscow, to be in two penal colonies. Navalny’s lawyer said On X The authorities refused to specify whether or where Navalny was transferred.

“Alexey’s whereabouts remain unknown,” Kira Yarmysh, who represents Navalny, wrote. On X.

Navalny’s lawyer said the disappearance comes just weeks after Navalny, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has been imprisoned since January 2021, fell ill and had to be placed on an intravenous drip. After his unknown illness, lawyers were able to speak to him, but contact with him was cut off over the past six days.

Disappearance also comes after that Putin announced Friday, his candidacy for president in 2024.

Yarmysh said Navalny’s lawyers repeatedly pressed to visit him last week at the maximum security IK-6 penal colony but were denied entry. Messages also went unanswered, and he began missing scheduled court hearings via video, she said.

Navalny is serving a 19-year prison sentence sentence, In addition to another 11-year prison sentence related to extremism charges. He was eventually scheduled to be transferred to a “special security” prison. The Associated Press reported.

Navalny’s supporters believe the charges are politically motivated due to his opposition to the Kremlin leader who has served as president for two decades. Putin has long been accused of assassinating his critics and opponents.

A Kremlin spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.