THIERRY GOEMAN

In the hours before the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a “mysterious commotion” suddenly broke out in the prison camp. This is what a detainee says in an anonymous testimony. According to him, there was an unprecedented nervousness. He believes that Navalny had died much earlier than the date and time of the official death notice.

© ANP / ASSOCIATED PRESS

A fellow prisoner opens up a book about the days before Alexei Navalny’s death.

The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta managed to speak to fellow prisoner ‘Arctic Wolf’ from penal colony IK-3, the penal camp in the Arctic where Navalny was also located. According to the man, a “mysterious commotion” broke out at the detention center on Thursday evening, a few hours before the death of Putin’s major opposition leader was announced.

Because even though strict rules officially apply, the prisoners still enjoy a certain freedom. But on Thursday everything was different than normal. In the days before that there were visits from strangers.

‘Extremely nervous’

“On Thursday, the daily body search was suddenly earlier than normal. This usually only happens on public holidays or on the eve of a public holiday, because the guards want to start partying as quickly as possible. But there was nothing special now. It was an ordinary Thursday. We didn’t know why everyone was so extremely nervous.”

“Everyone had to go into the cell earlier than normal on Thursday and the doors were closed immediately. “We also heard cars driving into the prison grounds late at night, but could not see through our cell windows who they were or what they were doing. But that normally never happened either,” says the detainee anonymously.

The next morning the guards were also very nervous and all cells were thoroughly searched. “Telephones, calling cards, even coil heaters that detainees use to warm their ice-cold cells, were confiscated. These items are prohibited, but are normally allowed with a blind eye. When we asked why they were suddenly so strict, the guards told us that an unexpected inspection from outside was underway.”

Unexpected inspection

The anonymous witness says that usually both the administration and the prisoners themselves are informed about such inspections about a month in advance to prepare for them. The guards and prisoners do not want the inspectors to find violations. The fact that it happened so unexpectedly was new to most of them.

According to the journalist, based on what the prisoner told him, Navalny may have died earlier than officially announced. There are several indications for this.

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When Navalny died on Friday morning, according to Russian authorities, “there was no ambulance to be seen at all in the penal colony.” It only appeared when the opposition member’s death was announced. “So I believe he died much earlier than was officially announced,” the fellow prisoner suspects. He makes a link with the vehicles that arrived at the prison camp late on Thursday evening.

‘Director innocent’

The other prisoners are quite sure that both director Vadim Kalinin and his employees had nothing to do with Navalny’s death. But they do not rule out that they were forced to do things they did not want to do.

Navalny became unwell after a walk. Despite resuscitation efforts, he died, according to the official obituary. Investigators have now said it will take another 14 days before they release Navalny’s body. It will take that long before all the results of the autopsy and toxicological tests are known.

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