Possible prisoner exchange: Uncertain whereabouts of opposition prisoners in Russia
"I have received inquiries from journalists asking where Paul (Whelan) is located," said his lawyer Olga Karlova to the Russian agency Interfax. She sent a request to the administration of his penal colony but has not received a response. The 54-year-old former US soldier Whelan has been in Russian custody since December 2018 on charges of espionage.
Lawyer Vadim Prochorov of Kara-Mursa wrote on Wednesday on the online service Facebook that a local lawyer had been repeatedly denied a visit to the prison hospital, where the opposition politician is believed to be located. "The exact whereabouts of the political prisoner are unknown," the post said.
The Russian-British citizen Kara-Mursa was sentenced in April 2023 to 25 years in a penal colony in the Siberian region of Omsk for the charges of "treason" and "dissemination of false information" related to the conflict in Ukraine. Due to his nervous condition, he was transferred to a prison hospital at the beginning of the month.
In addition to the uncertain whereabouts of Whelan and Kara-Mursa, activists reported that at least seven more political prisoners have been transferred in Russia in recent days - an unusual occurrence due to its simultaneity.
The lawyers of the imprisoned opposition politician Ilja Jaschin announced on Tuesday via his Telegram channel that Jaschin had been taken from his penal colony in the Smolensk region in the west of the country "to an unknown location."
Jaschin is considered a close associate of the opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered in 2015, and a friend of Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian labor camp. He was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison at the end of 2022 for condemning the "murder of civilians" by the Russian army in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
Relatives of the two former Nawalny employees, Lilia Chanishcheva and XeniaFadeyeva, also reported that the women had been transferred. Prison officials refused to answer questions about the location and reason for the transfer.
Among the transferred prisoners is also the German-Russian Kevin Lik. The 18-year-old, who was convicted of treason, was also transferred from his penal colony, according to the independent website Sotavision.
Oleg Orlov was also reportedly taken from his penal colony to an unknown location, according to the human rights organization Memorial. Orlov was the co-chair of the organization that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 and is currently serving a two and a half year prison sentence.
The activist Daniil Krinari, who was sentenced to five years in prison in April for alleged "cooperation with Ukraine," was also reportedly transferred from a prison in Moscow, according to the human rights organization OVD-Info.
The whereabouts of the artist Alexandra Skotchenkko, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for replacing price tags in a supermarket with messages against the offensive in Ukraine, are also unknown.
"Apparently, we are witnessing a large-scale prisoner exchange," wrote the Russian political scientist Tatiana Stanovaya, who lives in exile, in her Telegram channel.
Russia and the USA have reportedly been negotiating a prisoner exchange involving the US journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage. Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has already hinted that the US reporter could be released as part of such an exchange, mentioning the desired release of the Russian Vadim Krasikov, who is in custody in Germany for the so-called Tiergarten murder.
The verdict against Gershkovich was handed down in mid-July following a trial that lasted just over three weeks, a shorter duration than similar cases in Russia. Moscow has long pursued the policy of exchanging foreign prisoners only after they have been convicted, potentially paving the way for a swap involving Gershkovich.
The European Parliament can provide assistance to the Commission in addressing the issue of missing political prisoners in Russia. Despite requests, the exact location of the Polish-Russian citizen Kara-Mursa in the Siberian penal colony is still unknown, highlighting the need for transparency and adherence to international human rights standards.
