«Meduza»** obtained access to the email archive of Ilya Kruglyshev — one of the employees of IK-6 in the Vladimir region, where Alexei Navalny spent most of his term. In the letters, the colony employees discuss and plan document falsifications, including to send the politician to the SHIZO. Kruglyshev, as a lawyer, represented the colony in courts and prepared documents for Alexei Navalny's lawsuits. As noted in one of the documents by Kruglyshev himself, by November 2023, there were 84 lawsuits by the politician against the colony in the courts.
The correspondence shows that when preparing documents for court, the colony discussed several versions of the same document, falsifying facts for specific purposes.
For example, in October 2023, Kruglyshev received a letter from a colony employee with the subject «Walk from 22.09.2023 versions for approval», which included files with two versions explaining the actions of the colony employees. In the first version, the colony admitted that it deprived Navalny of a walk, but referred to «objective reasons» in the form of the daily schedule. In the second case, according to the overseers' version, the politician who filed the lawsuit himself refused the walk.
According to the received correspondence, the colony administration was concerned about how Navalny was transmitting information to his associates, which was then published on behalf of the politician. Censors studied his correspondence — 462 letters and 45 telegrams sent to the politician, as well as 31 letters he wrote himself. They also listened to Navalny's phone conversations with his mother and wife. No information «about the conditions of detention» and «disciplinary measures applied» was found. As a result, the head of the colony, Nozhkin, concluded that his associates could only receive messages through lawyers.
Full control over Navalny's communication with lawyers was established back in September 2022. Later, changes were made to the order: if IK-6 employees found materials «not related to providing legal assistance, including those on paper» with lawyers visiting Navalny, they had to return them to the politician. At the same time, colony employees could decide themselves whether the documents met this criterion. If Navalny's defender, citing attorney-client privilege, refused to «provide for review» documents on the politician's case, they were not allowed to see the client.
On October 13 last year, three of Navalny's lawyers — Vadim Kobzev*, Alexei Liptsker*, and Igor Sergunin* — were arrested. Then two more of the politician's defenders — Alexander Fedulov* and Olga Mikhailova* — were put on the wanted list. The investigation accused them of «participating in an extremist community». According to law enforcement, «using their status while providing legal assistance to access the correctional facility», they ensured Navalny's communication with FBK employees.
From the correspondence studied by «Meduza», it also follows that before each transfer to the SHIZO, Navalny was examined by FSIN medical staff, who in the medical report deemed the politician «fit for detention» in the isolation ward. Moreover, FSIN was aware of Navalny's high blood pressure at least since 2022 — and did not treat it. According to the official version, it was the increase in pressure that led to the politician's death.
As the publication notes, during the time Kruglyshev represented the colony's position in courts on Navalny's lawsuits, he became a colonel of the internal service — although he did not have the required five years of service in the rank of lieutenant colonel.
* Listed as «terrorists and extremists».
** Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent» and «undesirable» organization.