Jailed Russian Municipal Deputy Located at Prison Hospital After 2-Week Absence

Jailed Moscow municipal deputy Alexei Gorinov was located at a prison hospital in the city of Vladimir on Monday after being missing for over two weeks, his supporters announced. 

Gorinov, 62, was sentenced to seven years in prison in April 2022 for spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian military. He has been serving the sentence at penal colony No. 2 (IK-2) in the Vladimir region east of Moscow. 

The deputy’s lawyers have been repeatedly denied access to their defendant ever since sounding the alarm over the politician’s “very poor health” following their meeting on Dec. 8. 

“His skin color is blue. Alexei doesn’t even have the strength to sit on a chair and talk. He practically fell several times [during the lawyer's visit],” his team said following the visit. 

The politician’s supporters said that Gorinov — who has a chronic lung condition — has been suffering from severe bronchitis, but that his prison has confiscated medicines sent to him and repeatedly denied him medical treatment. 

Gorinov was eventually located by his legal team at a hospital adjacent to IK-3, a prison colony in the city of Vladimir, though they had not been warned of his transfer in advance. 

Gorinov's team said he was hospitalized in critical condition on Dec. 15, but his health has since improved.

“Now Alexei feels better and, according to his lawyer, looks much stronger,” his team said Monday. 

Earlier on Monday, supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny announced that he had been located in a prison colony in northern Russia after his whereabouts were unknown for nearly three weeks.