It’s a shame about Navalny, who is now at the end of his strength. Detention is becoming increasingly difficult for him, a buttoned shirt button or washing hands at the wrong time are sufficient excuses to trigger exemplary punishments. An inferno that had become unbearable even for him, which he tried to face during these two years in prison. Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov and his Filipino colleague Maria Ressa, winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, shed light on the inhumane conditions of Putin’s political enemy. They have sent an open letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross, asking it to intervene with the Moscow authorities to try to ease the prison conditions of anti-regime Alexei Navalny, who has been in prison for two years.
Navalny, who is serving a nine-year sentence, has repeatedly denounced being fined for minor prison discipline violations, being locked in cramped cells and being denied regular visits from family members. His supporters have recently sounded the alarm about his deteriorating health and lack of proper care. “They’re trying to kill him, that’s obvious. They’re doing it very, very slowly this time,” their rep Kira Yarmish said.
Since being transferred to the IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, he has lost weight again – losing almost 3.5 kilos for 10 days spent in solitary confinement where he has already spent 15 – and his health is suffering from sleep deprivation and other abuse. He has been put in solitary confinement ten times. And he was forced to file a lawsuit to get winter boots. Hundreds of Russian doctors, lawyers and parliamentarians have signed an open letter demanding an end to the abuse after being denied medical treatment or hospitalization, and even the right to lie down during the day if he has had a recent fever.
The denial of necessary medical care was “absolutely unacceptable,” said Alexander Polupan, the doctor who helped him after the poisoning. He lost the right to communicate with his lawyer after “persistently” breaking the rules: for washing his hands or unbuttoning the top button of his shirt six minutes before the scheduled time. Meanwhile, Canadian director Daniel Roher’s film Navalny has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary. The film follows the anti-corruption activist and her team as they try to uncover who is behind her nerve agent poisoning in 2020.