Vladimir Kara-Murza may solely snort when officers in Penal Colony No. 6 inexplicably put a small cupboard in his already-cramped concrete cell, subsequent to a fold-up cot, stool, sink and latrine. That second of darkish humour got here as a result of the one issues he needed to retailer in it have been a toothbrush and a mug, stated his spouse, Yevgenia, because the opposition activist wasn’t allowed any private gadgets in solitary confinement.One other time, she stated, Kara-Murza was advised to gather his bedding from throughout the hall – besides that prisoners should preserve their palms behind their backs each time outdoors their cells. “How was he supposed to pick it up? With his teeth?” Yevgenia stated. When he collected the sheets, a guard appeared and advised him he violated the foundations, bringing extra self-discipline. Kara-Murza was convicted of treason final yr for denouncing the warfare in Ukraine. He’s serving 25 years, the stiffest sentence for a Kremlin critic.For political prisoners like Kara-Murza, life in Russia’s penal colonies is a grim actuality of bodily and psychological strain, sleep deprivation, inadequate meals, well being care that’s poor or just denied, and a dizzying set of arbitrary guidelines. In line with Memorial – a bunch based to doc repression, there are 680 political prisoners in Russia who’re being held in more and more extreme circumstances underneath President Vladimir Putin’s crackdown. This month introduced the beautiful information from a distant Arctic penal colony, one in all Russia’s harshest services: the still-unexplained demise of Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin’s fiercest foe.Most frequently, inmates dwell in barracks tightly filled with bunk beds. Konstantin Kotov, an activist who spent over a yr in Penal Colony No. 2 , remembers cramped quarters of 60 males per room. Meals are unsatisfying: Breakfast was porridge, lunch was soup with little or no meat, mashed potatoes and a meat or fish cutlet; as was dinner. Inmates bought two eggs every week, and fruit and greens have been a luxurious. Studies of bodily abuse are widespread for bizarre inmates however uncommon for political prisoners, advocates say. As a substitute, intimidation usually comes through implementing minor infractions. Navalny spent months in a punishment cell for not buttoning his uniform correctly or not placing his palms behind his again. He as soon as described it as a “concrete kennel” of 8-by-10-feet that, relying on the season, was “cold and damp,” or “hot and there’s almost no air”.
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