Putin PROMOTES prison official accused of torturing murdered Alexei Navalny just days after dissident’s ‘novichok’ death

A PRISON official accused of torturing Alexei Navalny in the feared Polar Wolf jail has been promoted by Vladimir Putin.

Jail boss Valery Boyarinev, 53, was awarded the military rank of Colonel General of the Internal Service on Monday - just three days after Navalny's 'mysterious' death in prison.

Boyarinev - then the first deputy head of the Federal Penitentiary Service - was revealed as the man behind Navalny's shrinking food portions.

The fierce officer is believed to have ordered a big reduction in the food rations the Kremlin critic was allowed and also slashed the amount that could be spent on food.

In a move branded “torture” by Navalny supporters, Boyarinev made the chilling order at the Arctic IK-6 penal colony, it was revealed at a court hearing back in June 2023.

Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Mr Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, posted an image detailing the order today on social media.

He wrote on X: “Personal reward for torture and murder from Putin.”

Boyarinev fulfilled Putin's wish - the physical elimination of his main political opponent

gulag.nethuman rights group

Human rights group  also alleged he was the “curator of torture conveyors" and had implemented special measures against Navalny and thousands of Ukrainian prisoners under his watch.

The group - headed by exiled Vladimir Osechkin - said: "Since July 2022, this experienced sadist from… torture school has held the post of first deputy and oversees all operational work of the Gulag of the 21st century.

“The Lubyanka (FSB security service) has been promoting this executive executioner for a long time.

"And now - for the murder of Alexei Navalny - dictator Putin assigns him the rank of Colonel-General.

“Boyarinev fulfilled Putin's wish - the physical elimination of his main political opponent.”

Colonel Vadim Kalinin, 51, is the governor at the Arctic hellhole jail "Polar Wolf" where Navalny was being imprisoned before his death.

Former FSB colonel Gennady Gudkov, 67, an opposition politician said the jail was a terrible place to be for anyone opposing Putin.

He spoke about Navalny saying: “He was kept… in torture conditions.

“Either his organism did not overcome such torture (or) they might have given some medication that causes heart failure, they could have given a poison.

“We will only learn the truth when Putin is gone."

Others have also been promoted including Alexander Rozin, 41 - a deputy director who becomes a Lt-General.

And Dmitry Sharovatov and Alexander Fedorov both got honoured with new Major-General roles.

The hellish Siberian prison where Navalny died in is allegedly known for torturing and beating prisoners.

A former inmate of the hellish gulag said beatings are rife soon after the prisoners enter the jail and are "impossible to dodge".

They are beaten with batons, choked, pepper-sprayed, tied up, forced into awkward positions, and subjected to "humiliating procedures", he said. 

The colony staff explained that inmates are - illegally - beaten because “the prisoner must understand from the first minutes where he ended up”, but then the torture continues.

The jail is also known to locals as “the end of the world”.

WHAT HAPPENED TO NAVALNY?

Just yesterday, Navalny's heartbroken wife accused Putin of murdering her husband with the deadly nerve agent novichok in jail.

Yulia's sensational claims come as Russian authorities continue to refuse to let Navalny's family see his body.

The 47-year-old widow has also called out the Kremlin for "lying and waiting" for the fatal toxins to vanish before they release his body.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the claims are "nothing but unsubstantiated accusations, because they are not supported by anything, not confirmed".

As earlier today, Navalny’s mother Lyudmila Navalnaya, 69, stood outside the intimidating Arctic jail in sub-zero temperatures and demanded Putin released her son’s body.

She said in a video: “Behind me is the penal colony IK-3 Polar Wolf, where my son Alexei Navalny died on February 16.

“For the fifth day I cannot see him. They don’t give me his body and they don’t even tell me where he is.

“I appeal to you, Vladimir Putin, the solution to the issue depends only on you. Let me finally see my son.

“I demand that Alexei’s body be immediately handed over so that I can bury him humanely.”

Navalny was found dead at the feared jail, where he was serving a three-decade sentence, as he went on a walk, said prison authorities.

Russia gave the official cause of death as "sudden death syndrome" on Saturday, say Navalny's family and lawyer.

But no one has been allowed to see his body yet outside of Russian cops and selected emergency responders as an autopsy is still yet to be conducted.

This has led to speculation over his 'real' cause of death as many fear the worse for Putin's biggest critic.

Russian authorities have now said his body won't be handed over for another two weeks “until a chemical examination is completed", according to Navalny's former campaign manager Ivan Zhdanov.

We need to use every opportunity to fight against war, against corruption, against injustice, to fight for fair elections and freedom of speech, to fight to take our country back

Yulia Navalnaya widow

Yulia posted a speech on Navalny's YouTube when she made the novichok claims and called on his supporters to “gather ourselves together in one strong fist and strike at this mad regime, at Putin, at his friends, at the thugs in uniform… and murderers who are ruining our country."

She ended the passionate message saying: "Alexei loved Russia more than anything in the world, loved our country.

“He did believe in you, in us, in our strength, in our future, in the fact that we deserve better.

“He believed not just in words, but in deeds so deeply and sincerely that he was ready to give his life for it.

"We need to use every opportunity to fight against war, against corruption, against injustice, to fight for fair elections and freedom of speech, to fight to take our country back."