Russian politician Alexey Navalny who is serving prison time in the Vladimir region has been placed in solitary confinement for the 13th time, Navalny tweeted.
The prison administration sent him to the punishment cell for 15 days. According to Navalny, the decision was caused by a recent investigation published by the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF) that shed light on the prison’s purchase of food at artificially increased prices.
“I was limited in buying food (we have new rules now), my daily walk is now at at 7 am (it’s important, because if your walk is in the afternoon, you can get lucky enough to stand in a sunny spot for a while), I now get barely any time to read letters,” he wrote.
“And they’ve set up a personal sewing room for me. The adjoining cell was turned into a “working cell”, they put a sewing machine there.”
“It is hard enough to sit in a stuffy coop without having to sew in it."
The ACF investigation into food procurement by Navalny’s prison which is done at extortionate prices was published on 23 March. Navalny was sent to solitary confinement the next day for “failing to introduce himself properly”. He then had to share the cell with a person who had not been given any personal hygiene items given to him for two months.
The politician has been imprisoned for more than two years now. Over this time, Navalny has repeatedly been subjected to sharing personal space with another convict who has been previously placed in a hospital ward for flu and covid patients. This punishment led to Navalny’s falling ill in January.
In February, his lawyer said that the politician had been placed in a cell-type space for a maximum possible term of six months. Navalny’s representatives then also said that he was given “huge doses” of antibiotics which caused stomach complications and shedding 7 kg of weight.
