Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been transferred to a penal colony outside Moscow to serve out his prison sentence, according to reports.
Navalny was transferred Thursday, a public commission said on Sunday. The penal colony, located in the town of Pokrov in the Vladimir region, is roughly three hours outside Moscow.
Navalny will spend two and a half years at the prison, Reuters reported.
The conditions of the prison are reportedly severe, with “extremely strict” measures.
“Inmates who have spent time in different prisons across Russia told me this was the toughest one they have been in,” Konstantin Kotov, who has spent two years at the prison, told The Moscow Times. “It definitely felt like a high-security prison for hard criminals.”
Prisoners reportedly cooperate with the prison administration to help control other inmates, a local activist told Reuters.
“If there is a need to prevent Navalny from communicating with others, nobody would talk to him,” said Ruslan Vakhapov, an activist of the prisoners’ rights group Jailed Russia. “(If anything happens), he wouldn’t be able to ask for help until his lawyer arrives.”
Navalny will be quarantined ahead of his term as a precaution against the coronavirus.
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