History provides many painful examples of authoritarians who caused their perceived enemies to disappear, from Stalin’s gulag to Argentina’s dirty war and Mexican drug cartels’ violence. The disappearance of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny must be viewed with alarm under the dictatorship of President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Navalny had been serving an 11-year sentence on spurious fraud charges at a penal colony, IK-6, in the Vladimir region, about 140 miles east of Moscow. After an additional 19 years were tacked on in August, for “extremism,” he was to be moved to a nearby “special regime” prison, IK-7, known for harsher conditions. Mr. Navalny’s lawyers and staff grew alarmed when he failed to appear by video at two scheduled court hearings the week of Dec. 4. They said they have lost contact with him.
History provides many painful examples of authoritarians who caused their perceived enemies to disappear, from Stalin’s gulag to Argentina’s dirty war and Mexican drug cartels’ violence. The disappearance of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny must be viewed with alarm under the dictatorship of President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Putin announced on Dec. 8 that he would run for another six-year term, but it will be a farce of an election, without real opposition. Mr. Navalny and other challengers — including Post contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza — have been jailed, while others have been forced into exile.
Nonetheless, Mr. Navalny’s organization remains active. The day before Mr. Putin’s announcement, the Anticorruption Foundation put up a series of billboards in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities, wishing everyone a happy new year. However, the billboards contained a QR code that, when scanned, took users to a website headlined “Russia Without Putin” and urged people to vote for anyone but Mr. Putin next March. The day after the billboards went up, Moscow authorities took them down and issued instructions that QR codes were no longer permitted on billboards.
This is a favorite technique of dictators — poof! and people disappear, billboards vanish. Mr. Putin is most certainly trying to further isolate Mr. Navalny, who has already endured months in solitary confinement. Until now, he has managed to smuggle out messages through his lawyers, who post them on social media.
Where is Alexei Navalny? The world wants to know — and wants him freed.
