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Charp, Yamal-Nenets region
Drive to the settlement of Charp, north of the Arctic Circle.
The photos show a remote but at first glance perfect world: for the Russian Christmas at the beginning of January, the city administration beautifully decorated the streets for its officially 6,413 residents.
After all, it should be comfortable.
Things look completely different behind this inconspicuous entrance, in the notorious penal colony No. 3, which bears the name “Polar Wolf”.
Alexei Navalny had been held prisoner here since December - and died under still unclear circumstances on February 16th.
The penal colony is one of the harshest in all of Russia.
Navalny was repeatedly in solitary confinement here and is also said to have been tortured.
After his "sudden death," according to the authorities, his body was taken to the district town of Salekhard, about 50 kilometers from the prison camp.
And about 1,950 kilometers northeast of the Russian capital Moscow and the Kremlin.
Salekhard, Yamal-Nenets Region
How do the local people feel about the death of the country's most famous opposition figure?
Tatjana, resident
»He behaved like that.
Perhaps he would have pursued a different policy...?
Of course I don't know what happened to him there, but my attitude towards the main actor, to call him that, is a negative one.
I can not say more about that."
Sergei, resident
»I have no idea what happened.
Did he die or was he murdered, I can only guess.
Zero information.
I am not his supporter.
He was far too far away from us.
We have completely different problems here.”
Alyona, his wife
"We are not supporters of Navalny, you know..."
Sergei
"He was perhaps right on some points."
Alyona
"He did things..."
Sergei
"He made a serious mistake when he returned to Russia.
My opinion."
Alyona
"Of course, on the one hand, I feel sorry for him - as a person."
Most of the time, questions about the most famous inmate of the nearby penal colony are simply unwelcome.
This is hardly surprising given the regime's repression of political dissidents.
Nina, resident
»We don't know him and we don't know what happened there.
We can't say anything about him.
We don't know what happened to him.
It all happened in silence.
Let them sort things out.”
"She" means: the local public prosecutor's office.
However, the responsible court does not want to deal with the case for another week and a half.
Navalny's mother Ludmila traveled to the city earlier this week.
She wants to have her son's body returned by filing a lawsuit.
This should be in this house, in the local pathology department.
The body will remain locked up here for another two weeks due to “chemical tests.”
The hearing on Ludmila Navalnaya's application is said to have been scheduled for March 4th - and will take place behind closed doors.
Anything else would probably be unthinkable in this place.