As of this date, the whereabouts of Alexei Navalny are still a mystery. Russian judges have halted seven hearings “until [Navalny’s] whereabouts [is] established,” his lawyers said. [Andrew Roth, The Guardian, Dec. 18, 2023.]

He has not contacted his attorneys in nearly two weeks. Ironically, a hearing that failed to take place as scheduled last Friday was to be held on the subject of violations of Navalny’s human rights while in detention. Prison authorities say only that he is no longer at that penal colony in the Vladimir region, and is not at any of the nearly 200 pre-trial detention centers that have been contacted. And the Kremlin has “neither the intention nor the ability to track the fate of prisoners,” according to spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The United Nations has said his absence amounts to a “forced disappearance.”

The cancellation of the judicial hearings today is just the latest indication that something dire has happened to Navalny — that, as his lawyers fear, he “could be muzzled or even killed as Vladimir Putin has announced plans to extend his rule for a fifth presidential term.” At the very least, he may have been transferred into a “special regime” colony, in which case he could be held incommunicado for years under Russian law. [The Guardian, Dec. 18, 2023.]

Earlier this month, Navalny was hospitalized after collapsing due to poor sanitation and nutrition at the Melekhovo IK-6 prison where he had been held and from which he has since disappeared. His appearance, as shown in a photograph (above) taken in June of this year, is pale, gaunt and sickly as compared to the Alexei Navalny we remember from less than three years ago — even after having survived the poisoning that nearly killed him.

Alexei Navalny is Putin’s most viable opponent in the presidential election scheduled on March 15-17, 2024. If he dies while in the custody of the Russian prison system, Vladimir Putin will, as always, shrug it off as being the fault of some low-level prison officials. But the world — and the Russian people to whom Navalny is a hero — all know better. Alexei Navalny’s fate is in the hands of none other than Vladimir Putin himself; and allowing the worst to happen to Navalny could prove to be the biggest mistake of Putin’s career.

There are better ways to win an election.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/18/23