Inmate at Navalny’s prison shares events leading up to politician’s death, contradicts official statements

An inmate from the prison where Navalny was being held told Novaya Gazeta Europe about events there in the lead-up to Navalny’s death. According to him, the prison administration was preparing for an inspection, and the politician’s death came as a surprise.

The inmate said that on the evening of February 15, Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) employees expedited the evening check and locked the prisoners’ barracks. Later that evening and during the night, he said, unknown vehicles drove onto the prison’s territory three times. The morning of February 16 started with a thorough search of the barracks. Based on what prison officials said, inmates concluded that they were expecting an inspection.

“Usually, both the local administration and the inmates learn about such inspections not a day or two before the [commission comes] but about a month before and prepare for them in advance. Because neither the inmates nor the guards want any extra problems that the inspectors might find. And then bang, out of the blue — the commission arrives! Clearly, something was about to happen,” the inmate said.

According to him, prisoners learned that Navalny had died at around 10:00 a.m. (8:00 a.m. Moscow time). The local FSIN administration published a press release about the politician's death on its website around 2:00 p.m. local time. (Baza reported that Navalny felt unwell around 1 p.m. local time and that he died at 2:17 p.m.)

The EPKT (single cell-type room) where they put him is away from the barracks, but if an ambulance had come there, it would have been visible. There were no ambulances in the prison on the morning of the 16th; they came only after it became known that Navalny was already dead. So, I think Navalny died much earlier than the time that was announced. Most likely, last night. Otherwise, why did they need to lock us securely in the barracks and then conduct a search in the morning?

Prisoners learned that a commission from the central FSIN office was coming at about the same time as they learned of Navalny’s death, said the inmate. The prisoners reportedly took this as further evidence that Navalny died much earlier than announced.

At the same time, he said inmates believe that Navalny’s death was a surprise to the prison administration and that FSIN employees were not directly involved in the politician’s death — although the inmates don’t rule out the possibility.

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