Alexei Navalny describes harsh circumstances in Russian penal colony

Freshly shaved head, drained eyes, poker face: Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most high-profile prisoner, conveyed a primary picture and message to his social media accounts from detention on Monday. “I never imagined it was possible to set up a real concentration camp 100 kilometers from Moscow,” he wrote on his Facebook and Instagram profiles.
A jail throughout the penal colony
A couple of days in the past, the 44-year-old opposition politician was transferred to Penal Colony Number 2 (IK-2) within the small provincial city of Pokrov, round two hours’ drive east of Moscow. This is the place he’ll spend the subsequent two and a half years.
At the start of February, a Moscow court docket commuted his former suspended sentence for alleged financial crimes into a jail time period, as a result of it mentioned he had didn’t comply together with his obligation to report in the course of the suspension. This is a reference to the interval when Navalny was in Germany, the place he was receiving medical remedy and recuperating after being poisoned with a nerve agent in Russia.
In the quick submit on social media, which it appears Navalny conveyed by way of his lawyer, he describes his penal colony in sometimes ironic vogue as a “friendly concentration camp” the place unhealthy language is prohibited and every little thing strictly regulated. He writes that, thus far, he has “not seen any violence, or even a hint of it,” however that when he sees the prisoners standing stiffly to consideration, “afraid even to turn their heads,” he can “easily believe the numerous stories that not long ago people were beaten to within an inch of their lives here with wooden hammers.”
Navalny is being intently monitored, because the legislation enforcement companies have categorized him a high-escape threat. At evening, he writes, he’s woken each hour when a guard is available in, movies him with a video digital camera, and states the trip loud. Navalny additionally sends greetings to his supporters from “Sector of Enhanced Control A.” According to Russian media, that is in impact a jail throughout the IK-2 penal colony, the place the foundations are even stricter.
Solitary confinement, warnings as psychological strain
The harsh circumstances in Russian penal colonies have been notorious for many years. Unofficially, a distinction is made between “red” and “black” prisons. In “red” prisons, the administration apparently determines every little thing and makes use of prisoners to assist implement the strict guidelines, whereas in “black” penal colonies the convicts have extra say, and are mentioned to get pleasure from sure freedoms.
The 36-year-old activist Konstantin Kotov instructed DW that the penal colony in Pokrov the place Navalny is serving his sentence is classed as “red.” Kotov has finished time there himself: In 2019, he was sentenced to 1 and a half years’ imprisonment for violating the correct of meeting in Moscow. He was freed solely just lately.
Kotov says he was not himself the sufferer of bodily violence, however that he noticed and heard different prisoners being crushed. “Blows to the heel are especially common,” he explains. “You lie on the ground, take off your shoes, raise your legs, and then they beat you on your feet, with the wooden leg of a stool, for example. It’s extremely painful.”
Kotov doesn’t consider Navalny is liable to related punishment; relatively, he thinks he’s extra prone to be subjected to psychological strain, reminiscent of solitary confinement. This is what Kotov skilled throughout his imprisonment. There could be very little contact with the surface world, he says, and hardly any dialog with different inmates, both.
Kotov says he was issued with six warnings. On one event, it was as a result of one other prisoner had given him his gloves. “I was admitted in November 2019; it was already winter, freezing cold, and I was supposed to be issued with gloves at the penal colony,” Kotov says. “But they instructed me they didn’t have any within the retailer.
In the colony, you spend a variety of time open air, an hour each morning and each night whereas the roll known as, for instance. During this, it’s important to maintain your fingers behind your again; you’re forbidden to place them in your pockets. I used to be freezing, and one other prisoner gave me his gloves. In the top, we each bought a warning.” Russian media report that different prisoners in IK-2 have described related experiences.
Other causes Kotov was issued with warnings throughout his time in jail included not greeting a member of the jail workers, or not buttoning the highest button of his clothes. These warnings can result in solitary confinement, he explains, and make it tougher for a prisoner to safe an early launch.
Prisoners can even find yourself in a quarantine unit, the place specific emphasis is positioned on self-discipline. “It’s not about isolating people who are sick, or making it easier for new arrivals to settle in. It’s about making prisoners suffer,” Kotov claims. For instance, they’re pressured to “exercise 10 times a day,” and to provide an account every time they’re spoken to by a member of workers.
Will Navalny sew underpants for legislation enforcement officers?
As a brand new arrival, Navalny continues to be in quarantine. It’s not clear what kind of work he will probably be assigned within the penal colony. At the start of March, the Russian analysis platform “The Insider” reported that lately prisoners in IK-2 had sewn males’s underwear – together with underpants destined for workers of the Russian state legislation enforcement company.