Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny missing from prison, his team says

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is missing from prison and his attorneys have not heard from him in six days, Navalny's team said Monday.

Attorneys for Navalny tried to access two penal colonies near Moscow where Navalny is believed to be, but Russian officials told them that he was at neither, Navalny's spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said Monday on X, formerly Twitter.

Russian officials refuse to say where he may have been transferred, Yarmysh also said, writing in a separate post: "This is already the sixth day since we don’t know where Alexei is or what’s happening to him."

Yarmysh also sounded the alarm about Navalny's whereabouts on Friday, stating on X: "The fact that we can't find Alexey is particularly worrying because he fell ill in his cell last week: he got dizzy and laid down on the floor. The colony staff came over immediately, lowered the cot, laid Alexey down and gave him an IV. We don't know what it was, but given the fact that he's not being fed, is being kept in a punishment cell with no ventilation and the time for walks has been reduced to a minimum, it looks like a hunger faint."

Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison on extremism charges in August, and he was already serving an 11-and-a-half-year sentence for fraud, which he has denied.  

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