Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta managed to speak to a fellow prisoner of Navalny in the IK-3 penal colony, nicknamed the ‘Arctic Wolf’, in the Arctic. According to the man, a “mysterious commotion” broke out in the detention center on Thursday evening, a few hours before the death of Putin’s main opponent was announced. Because even though there are officially strict rules, the prisoners still enjoy a certain freedom. But on Thursday everything was different than normal. And also in the days before there were visits from strangers.
“On Thursday, the daily body search was suddenly brought forward. This usually only happens on public holidays or on the eve of public holidays, because the guards want to party 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.”
Cells searched
“Everyone had to go into the cell earlier than normal on Thursday and the doors were closed immediately. “We also heard cars driving onto 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 used by detainees to warm their ice-cold cells, were seized. 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.”
Usually, the anonymous witness says, both the administration and the prisoners themselves are informed about such inspections about a month in advance and prepare for them, because neither the guards nor the prisoners 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.
14 days left
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.
The other prisoners are quite certain that neither director Vadim Kalinin nor his subordinates had anything 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, the official version said. 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.
