Dec. 18 (UPI) — Imprisoned Russian dissident Alexey Navalny failed to appear for several legal hearings scheduled for Monday, his supporters announced, further heightening international concerns over his whereabouts.
Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said in a social media post the prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin was supposed to appear via video link at seven hearings on Monday.
Instead, the cases were suspended after he could not be located, she reported.
Inquiries seeking information about his whereabouts were sent to more than 200 pre-trial detention centers across the country during the weekend, Yarmysh said, adding, “We are waiting for answers.”
Russian authorities have so far refused to answer questions on the whereabouts of Navalny, one of the fiercest critics of Putin and his government. He has not been in contact with his legal team for 10 days and had been seriously ill.
Navalny was being prepared for transfer to a harsher regime penal colony after he was sentenced in August to an additional 19 years on extremism charges when his legal team lost touch with him.
His disappearance comes shortly after Putin announced he would run for another six-year term as president of Russia. Navalny and his team had urged residents to vote for opposition candidates in protest.
His continuing absence has generated international concerns about his well-being, including from the United Nations, whose experts have raised concerns about Navalny’s persistent ill-treatment in detention and lack of access to adequate medical care since his initial imprisonment in January 2021.
Mariana Katzarova, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Russian Federation, said in a statement Monday the uncertainty over his whereabouts after such a prolonged period “amounts to enforced disappearance.”
In addition to Monday’s missed hearings, a separate hearing scheduled for Friday at Navalny’s last known location in Russia’s Vladimir Oblast, east of Moscow, similarly did not take place, she said.
His lawyers “were told by the court that their client is no longer held in the Vladimir region, without providing any further details,” Katzarova said, asserting that the charges against Navalny are baseless.
“Mr. Navalny and all those arbitrarily detained should be released immediately and provided remedies and reparations for all the harm suffered, in line with international human rights obligations,” the special rapporteur said.