“Educational” sessions, sewing: the daily life of the Russian opponent Navalny in prison

The main Russian opponent Alexei Navalny recounted in a scathing tone on Friday his daily life in an ultra-secure prison where he was transferred, between sewing workshops and “educational” sessions under a portrait of Vladimir Putin.

• Read also: Russia: opponent Navalny confirms having been transferred to another prison

• Read also: Russia: opponent Alexei Navalny transferred to another penal colony

After the entry into force of a new judicial sentence, the number one opponent of the Kremlin was transferred in mid-June to a prison located about 250 km east of Moscow and known for the ill-treatment inflicted on detainees.

In a message posted on Instagram, Mr. Navalny details his schedule, with getting up every morning at 6 a.m. and working in a sewing workshop set up in the establishment.

“We stay for seven hours in front of a sewing machine, sitting on a stool lower than knee level,” says Navalny.

When he is not sewing, the opponent must comply with “educational activities” consisting of “sitting for hours on a bench, under a portrait of Putin”.

“I don’t know who this kind of activity can + educate +, except possibly a cripple with a stewed back”, he comments.

“On Saturday, the working day lasts five hours. Then we still have to sit on the bench under the portrait, ”says the opponent. Sunday is a “rest day”, but you have to go back to the bench again “for ten hours”.

Despite this harsh daily life, Mr. Navalny says he remains “optimistic” and has learned by heart and in English passages from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”.

“Prisoners who work with me say that when I close my eyes and mumble things in Shakespearian English (…) it sounds like I’m summoning a demon,” Navalny joked.

“But that doesn’t even cross my mind, because invoking a demon would be a violation of the internal regulations,” adds the opponent, who regularly accuses the prison authorities of accusing him of fictitious offenses to toughen his conditions of detention.

Anti-corruption blogger and main opponent of Mr. Putin, Alexei Navalny was arrested in January 2021 on his return from Berlin, where he had spent several months recovering after narrowly surviving poisoning for which he holds President Putin responsible.

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