Vladimir Putin’s pet peeve, sentenced to nine years in prison, says he spent the night of December 31 with two prisoners, including a “psychotic”.
Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, who has been jailed in Russia for nearly two years, said he spent New Year’s Eve in a disciplinary cell, another example of his prison conditions being tightened.
In a message sent to his lawyers and published on social networks on Monday, January 9, Alexei Navalny confirms that on December 31, the administration of his prison, located 200 km from Moscow, decided to sentence him to 15 days “Mitard “ to impose because he is against the rules. He said he was accused of doing his morning toilet at “5:24 a.m.” one day, or 36 minutes before the regular time: 6:00 a.m.
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“People pay to have an original New Year’s Eve, for me it was free”
“And so they ruined my plans to have a great New Year with a packet of chips and a can of Saira (a fish from Japan, ed.) that I had put aside,” wrote Alexei Navalny. He says he slept all New Year’s Eve with two other inmates, including a “psychic” who “screamed”. “Overall I’m satisfied. People pay to have an original New Year’s Eve, for me it was free,” he commented with his usual humour.
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He also referred to one of his regular fellow inmates for the past few months who has hygiene issues and appears “homeless.” “You have to call him a tractor driver now because I washed him well and that’s his job,” says Navalny. According to him, the administration forces this prisoner to go back and forth between his cell and the infirmary affected by an influenza epidemic. “It looks like they’re using it as a bacteriological weapon, no wonder he’s depressed,” Navalny commented, before ending with a “Happy New Year, good health!”
Nine to thirty years in prison
Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s pet peeve, was arrested in Russia in January 2021 when he returned to the country after being severely poisoned, which he blames on the Kremlin. Last March he was sentenced to nine years in prison under a “heavy” regime for “fraud” which he believes was fabricated. Last October, he announced that he was the subject of new charges that could carry a 30-year prison sentence.
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