The imprisoned opposition activist from Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan, Airat Dilmukhametov, has been transferred to a notorious "special regime" prison, the harshest type of penitentiary in the country, his relatives told RFE/RL on November 5 after weeks of having no contact with him.
The Minusinsk prison, in the town of the same name in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk Krai, was built in 1810 and many historic Russian figures were incarcerated within its walls. In Soviet times, more than 4,000 people were executed there. In his literary investigation, The Gulag Archipelago, Soviet dissident writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn described the facility as "the most terrifying detention center of the Stalin era."
Dilmukhametov was arrested in 2019 and in August 2020 sentenced to nine years in prison on extremism charges.
In August this year, a court ruled that he must be transferred to a "special regime" prison for "systemic violations of the penitentiary’s internal order."
Dilmukhametov was convicted of issuing public calls to violate Russia's territorial integrity.
The charge stemmed from a video statement he made in 2018 urging the creation of a "real" federation in Russia with more autonomous rights given to ethnic republics and regions.
Dilmukhametov was also found guilty of making public calls for extremism and supporting terrorism.
Those charges are linked to his criticism of regional authorities for incarcerating several Bashkirs on charges of belonging to a banned Islamic group and his public statements about a conflict between local residents and workers from Chechnya in the village of Temas.
SEE ALSO: Officials In Russia's Bashkortostan Investigating Clashes Involving ChechensDilmukhametov has maintained his innocence.
Russian rights groups have recognized Dilmukhametov as a prisoner of conscience and said he has been under pressure while in custody, frequently being kept in punitive solitary confinement on ungrounded accusations.