“An allusion to Navalny’s death”: Russian authorities say jailed mathematician Azat Miftakhov was not poisoned — for no particular reason

On August 4, Azat Miftakhov's wife, Elena Gorban, filed an appeal with the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) in Russia's Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. She requested a medical examination of her husband, who was currently detained at IK-18 "Polar Owl" prison colony in Kharp, due to concerns about potential violence against him. Notably, Gorban did not mention poisoning in her appeal, despite her husband's defense team having raised concerns about beatings and torture with electric shocks.

However, the FSIN responded on August 28, stating that their medical examination did not find any signs of poisoning, bodily injuries, or trauma. Despite never mentioning poisoning in her appeal, Gorban expressed her belief that the official's response was a mocking allusion to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who had passed away from poisoning at the nearby IK-3 "Polar Wolf" prison colony in February 2024.

Human rights defenders, such as Yevgeny Smirnov, confirmed that they had never seen a case where the FSIN reported the absence of poisoning signs without first receiving a request for such a check. Miftakhov, a mathematician and anarchist currently serving a politically motivated sentence, is being held in a PKT punishment unit at IK-18. His confinement in the unit has been extended due to an unspecified issue with dust in his cell.