This past Friday, the world was shocked with the announcement of the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at the age of 47. In a brief message, the prison directorate of the Yamalo-Nenets region reported: "On February 16, 2024 in correctional colony number 3, the convicted Navalny A.A., after walking, felt ill, losing consciousness almost immediately ".
Navalny died in prison. He did it in the Polar Wolf, a maximum security prison located in the isolated and cold town of Jarp, near the Ural mountain range, in the Arctic Circle, where temperatures are extreme, especially in winter, with few hours of sleep. sunshine.
It turned out that the Russian opposition leader had arrived at IK-3 - this is how the center is formally known - on December 25, after spending almost three weeks in an unknown whereabouts, in which all kinds of hypotheses arose about Navalni's fate, who had returned to Russia in 2021 after being transferred to Berlin months before to be hospitalized.
Since his return to the country presided over by his enemy Vladimir Putin, the anti-corruption activist was also in the IK-6 penal colony in the rural town of Melejovo, 230 kilometers from Moscow, after being sentenced to a total of 30 years for fraud. first, and extremism and other charges, later. It is assumed that his transfer to the Polar Wolf, 2,000 kilometers from the Russian capital, was carried out by train, since planes do not operate in the area for several months. Hence the duration of the trip.
When it was learned last Christmas that he was in one of Jarp's maximum security penal colonies - there is another, called Polar Owl, for lifers, while Polar Wolf is for those convicted of serious crimes and repeat offenders - many wondered what the prison was like and what the conditions of the inmates were.
A report published a few weeks ago by RTVE showed, although roughly due to the restrictions imposed, what the reality of the Polar Wolf is. According to the team deployed to the site, you can walk through the main door of the venue, but everything changes if you have a camera with you: it is prohibited to record at less than 100 meters.
From that distance you can also see some of the elements of the prison, built in the 1960s from a former camp unit of Gulag Construction 501, such as the watchtower, a chimney and a small church. You can also hear patriotic songs from Soviet times such as Holy War through the public address system.
Another testimony of what the Polar Wolf is like and life there was that of Navalni himself, in his videoconferences from prison in court hearings. He himself said that they woke him up with the national anthem and that the conditions, including the food, were better than in the previous prison he had been in, also with a touch of sarcasm. And until his last hours - his last court appearance was this Thursday - the Russian opponent did not lose his sense of humor.
However, the other information available about the IK-3, thanks to Navalni's team of lawyers and other testimonies, is not so generous. The Russian opposition leader lived in recent weeks in a small cell from where he could not see the sky and his visitation regime was restricted, as well as access to letters or emails. Regarding his daily walks, he took them in another cell measuring eleven steps by three.
The extreme temperatures in the area - in winter they reach 40 degrees below zero - also mean that the prisoners remain isolated in rooms for much of the day and, if they carry out any outside activity, they lack the appropriate clothing to withstand extreme conditions. such adverse weather.
As in other prisons, the Polar Wolf has different buildings and the inmates are separated by categories, based on the crimes committed and their dangerousness. Some witnesses and organizations have reported abuse, mistreatment and neglect by the center's workers.
In the case of Alexéi Navalni, there have been several days in which he remained in punishment cells after committing some alleged infractions. The last time he was isolated - the fourth since his arrival at the Polar Wolf - was this past Tuesday. Three days before, between February 1 and 11, he had already remained alone in another punishment cell.
As far as it has been reported, the last visit that the Russian opponent received before dying was that of his mother Liudmila Naválnaya last Monday, one day after returning from his prison isolation and just four days before losing his life.
After learning of the event, the Kremlin announced that it would investigate it and that it considered the accusations by Western leaders for the death of the anti-corruption activist to be inadmissible. However, even the president of the United States, Joe Biden, did not hesitate to assure yesterday afternoon that Vladimir Putin was responsible for the death of Navalni, who thus joins the list of rivals and opponents of the Russian president who died in strange circumstances. circumstances.
