Jailed Kremlin critic Andrei Pivovarov has been transferred to a infamous penal colony the place inmates have accused jail officers of torture, unbiased media reported Monday after his associates raised issues over his unknown whereabouts.
Pivovarov’s affiliate Tatiana Usmanova instructed the Novaya Gazeta Europe information website that he has been inside Penal Colony No. 7 within the republic of Karelia in northwestern Russia for almost a month.
Jail wardens there positioned Pivovarov inside a cell-type facility till April 30 instantly after he arrived there on Jan. 24, the outlet stated.
“First they hid Andrei from everybody for 30 days and with out telling his relations the place he’s,” Usmanova instructed Novaya Gazeta. “Then they despatched him to this facility the place calls and visitations are banned.”
Pivovarov, 41, was sentenced to 4 years in jail in July 2022 on prices of “undesirable” actions.
He denies the costs towards him.
A court docket in southern Russia upheld the decision in November 2022.
Russian safety providers detained Pivovarov in Might 2021 after eradicating him from a flight certain for Warsaw amid a nationwide crackdown on opposition activists.
Pivovarov headed exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkosky’s Open Russia group.
Authorities labeled Open Russia “undesirable” in 2017, a designation that topics anybody working with it to felony prosecution.
The professional-democracy motion’s members continued to function as a separate authorized entity till Might 2021, when it disbanded to guard its employees from prosecution.
Penal Colony No. 7 gained notoriety after numerous its high-profile inmates accused its chief warden of abuse, slave labor, extortion and making a system of violence.
The chief warden was sentenced to 2 and a half years in jail in 2019 on abuse-of-power prices.
