Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin, who is serving time sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for his criticism of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was unexpectedly transferred to an undisclosed location from Correctional Colony No. 3 in the western Smolensk region – the sixth political prisoner transferred in recent days, reported Radio Free Europe, writes BTA.
Yashin's lawyer – Tatyana Solomina, was quoted by his supporters on the "Telegram" platform. to say that the current location of her quarterback is unknown.
Yesterday, supporters of Kevin Leek, a 19-year-old man from Russia's North Caucasus republic of Adygea who was sentenced to four years in prison in December on treason charges, said he had been unexpectedly moved from a prison in northwestern Arkhangelsk area.
Lick was charged after allegations emerged that he had taken pictures of a military site from his apartment window. According to the investigators, he took the photos to help the German secret services.
A day earlier, relatives, supporters and lawyers of four other slain activists – the former heads of the teams of the late opposition politician Alexei Navalny in the Republic of Bashkortostan and in the Novosibirsk region Lilia Chanisheva and Ksenia Fadeeva, the human rights activist Oleg Orlov and the anti-war artist Alexandra Skochilenko – stated that they were also unexpectedly transferred from places of detention to unspecified prisons and held without any access to communication with them.
Only Skolichenko's supporters have been informed that she has been moved to an unnamed prison in Moscow. The relocation destinations of the other three remain unknown.
Yashin, 40, is an outspoken critic of the Kremlin and one of the few prominent opposition politicians to remain in Russia following a wave of crackdowns on those who condemned Russian aggression against Ukraine after the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
The sentence handed down against Yashin in December 2022 is the most severe among cases against those accused of defaming the Russian armed forces under the new law introduced days after the invasion began. The criminal case against Yashin was initiated in July 2022. The charge against him stemmed from posts on "YouTube" (YouTube) in which he talks about alleged crimes committed by the Russian military in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
Human rights groups have criticized Russian regulations regarding the treatment of convicts whose whereabouts can be concealed during their transfer from one prison to another – a process known as a "stage", notes RFE.
"Stage" is a process that uses trains that have barred compartments specially designed for prisoners who get little fresh air during the journey, cannot shower and have limited access to food and toilet facilities.
Moving can take days, weeks or even months as trains stop and convicts spend time in transit jails. The convicts are almost always subjected to humiliation, beatings by the guards, and sometimes this even leads to death, notes Radio Free Europe.