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Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalni has been sent to a prison outside Moscow to serve his sentence, his lawyer said on Thursday, a move that comes despite a request for his release by the European Court of Human Rights.
Mr Navalny’s lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, did not immediately announce the name of the prison where Navalny was sent. Russian news agencies have previously reported that Navalny, who is being held in a maximum security prison in Moscow, could be sent to a prison in western Russia.
Alexey Navalni, 44, the most vocal opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested on January 17 while returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. Russian authorities have denied the allegations and accused Mr Navalny of collaborating with Western intelligence agencies, allegations he called ridiculous.
Earlier this month, Navalny was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for violating probation while recovering in Germany. The sentence was part of charges of embezzlement filed in 2014 that Navalny called fabricated, and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that the Russian court’s decision in the case is illegal.
Navalny’s arrest has sparked a wave of protests by tens of thousands of people across Russia. Authorities have arrested about 11,000 people, many of whom were fined or jailed for seven to 15 days.
Russian officials have rejected demands from the United States and the European Union to release Navalny and stop the crackdown on his supporters.
Moscow also rejected the European Court of Human Rights ruling, which cited the danger to Navalny’s life in prison in its call for his release by the Russian government. The Kremlin has called the European Court ‘s request an illegal intervention and “Unacceptable” in the internal affairs of Russia.
Earlier this week, EU foreign ministers agreed to impose new sanctions on Russian officials linked to Navalny’s imprisonment.
Since Navalny’s arrest, Russian officials and state-run news media have tried aggressively to discredit him, a change from his previous tactic of ignoring him.
Some of the critics have highlighted the anti-immigrant views expressed years ago as its popularity was rising.
Amnesty International this week withdrew the designation of Navalny as a “prisoner of conscience” because of those views. “In the past, Navalny has made comments that could have reached the point of supporting hatred and inciting discrimination, violence or hostility.” said the organization on Thursday.
The statement denied that the decision was in response to external pressure, but news agency reports suggested that Amnesty International was the target of a coordinated campaign to discredit it.
“These were not activists who acted independently; they were people who wanted to slander Alexei Navalny as Mr. Putin’s most prominent opponent.” said Vladimir Ashurkov, executive director of Navalny anti-corruption organization, at a news conference on Thursday.
Amnesty International said the waiver of the prisoner of conscience designation did not change its request for Navalny’s release.
“There should be no confusion: Nothing Navalny has said in the past justifies his current imprisonment, which is simply politically motivated. “Navalni has been arbitrarily detained for exercising his right to freedom of expression, and for this reason we continue to campaign for his immediate release.” says the statement of the human rights organization, Amnesty International./VOa/
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