Russia: No threat to Navalny’s security in colony, Penitentiary Service Director says

Navalny

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/: There is no threat to Russian blogger Alexey Navalny’s security or health in the penal colony, where he will serve his sentence over the Yves Rocher case, Federal Penitentiary Service Director Alexander Kalashnikov said Friday.

"I guarantee that there is no threat to [his] health or life," he told journalists.

Kalashnikov confirmed that Navalny was transported to a colony, and that the Federal Penitentiary Service will provide him with adequate conditions. "He will be remanded in completely adequate conditions. Should he desire so, he will be involved in production activities," Kalashnikov said.

He did not disclose which colony Navalny was transferred to. "Everything is in compliance with the law there where he should be right now," the director said.

On February 2, Moscow’s Simonovsky Court replaced Navalny’s suspended sentence over the Yves Rocher case with actual prison term due to multiple violations of penalty conditions. On February 20, Moscow City Court upheld the ruling, and it entered effect.

According to previous reports, Navalny was supposed to be transferred to a penal colony; previously, lawyer Vadim Kobzev reported that the blogger was transferred from the temporary detention facility.