Wagner PMC stormtrooper Vadim Akimov, who was serving a sentence in the Vladimir IK-6 with Alexei Navalny, said that after talking with the politician, he was threatened with the possibility of «going missing» for another attempt to communicate. The interview with the mercenary was published by the Navalny LIVE channel.
“The conversation was very short, rough and extremely clear. They simply explained to me that if they see me again together with Alexei Anatolyevich, speaking on certain topics, no matter what, I will simply disappear without a trace. No one will talk to me, that’s exactly how I was told that you will disappear, and no one will ever see you again in this life, ”recalls the Wagnerian.
Akimov also spoke about preparations for the transfer of the oppositionist to a colony strict regime. According to him, a separate detachment was built for the politician with the money of prisoners who wanted to get out on parole. For maintenance, along with Navalny, convicts were prepared, «quite different in denunciation,» the Wagner PMC fighter added.
He noted that the transfer of prisoners to politics took place in several stages: “These guys were selected, explanatory conversations were held with them, they were trained, and in the future they were already sitting down with Navalny.”
Near the colony there is an elevation and a quarry, from which a view of the territory of IK-6 opens. In this regard, as a distraction for the media in the local sector where Navalny is located, they pulled up a poster depicting a man drinking tea in the window. “So that one of the correspondents, God forbid, does not take a picture of Navalny, does not see him in the window drinking tea,” Akimov explained the idea.
The former prisoner who joined the Wagner PMC also recalled the torture in the colony . According to him, while serving his term, other convicts demanded 600 thousand rubles from him. After Akimov wrote a complaint, he was summoned to the headquarters, where 12 «good fellows fully masked with batons» attacked him. At first he was beaten and tortured with electric current. Then the naked man was tied to a bed in the medical unit and kept in this state for 15 days. During this time, he was given water twice a day and smeared with bruises.
Navalny was transferred to IK-6 in June 2022 after being sentenced on charges of fraudulently collecting donations. There, the politician has already been sent to the ShIZO 14 times. Penalties were imposed, including for refusing to wash the fence, for an unbuttoned button, and for “incorrectly introducing himself.” In autumn, the politician was also sent to a cell-type room (PKT), where prisoners can be kept for more than 15 days.