Russia: Kremlin opponent Navalny in prison for two years

Russia
Kremlin opponent Navalny in prison for two years

Before the second anniversary of his arrest in Moscow, which attracted attention around the world, there are great concerns about the Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who is in prison.

The 46-year-old, who returned to Russia on January 17, 2021 after treatment in Germany for an assassination attempt, complains of torture in the “fascist” prison system under President Vladimir Putin. Hundreds of doctors signed an open letter of protest to Putin asking him to stop the “mistreatment” of his opponent, who was ill in solitary confinement.

Despite his ailing health, Russia’s best-known political prisoner and leader of the Russian opposition, which works mainly from abroad, is unbroken. For days, family members and supporters feared for the life of Navalny, who was sentenced to a total of nine years in prison. According to his lawyer Vadim Kobsev, he was initially not treated in his solitary confinement, despite coughing, chills and fever.

But now, according to Kobsev, Navalny is receiving an antibiotic and has had a visit from the chief physician of a clinic where he had already been treated after a life-threatening hunger strike. The lawyer keeps meeting Navalny in penal colony 6 in Melekhovo near the city of Kovrov, about 260 kilometers northeast of Moscow.

“Great concern for his life and health”

In fact, a letter to Putin signed by more than 600 doctors has now helped. “The conditions of detention and the external appearance of Alexei Navalny cause us great concern for his life and health,” said the letter, which was signed by Moscow surgeon Alexander Vanyukov and published on Facebook. He and the other medics called on Putin, as the guarantor of the Russian constitution, to ensure Navalny’s right to medical treatment and to end solitary confinement. A little later, the Kremlin itself forwarded the case to the penal system.

Navalny’s wife Julia had also written to the penal system and asked whether people were still working there. She and her two children have been in constant fear for Navalny’s life since he narrowly survived a poison attack with the chemical warfare agent Novichok in August 2020. Navalny had described Putin himself as a “murderer” who had commissioned a killer squad from the domestic secret service FSB to carry out the assassination. The Kremlin rejects this.

It was two years ago this Tuesday (January 17) that Navalny returned to Russia from treatment in the Berlin Charité and in the Black Forest despite the foreseeable imprisonment. At the time he had declared that he wanted to fight Putin in the country – not from afar as a critic abroad. Despite the threat of new penalties, he has repeatedly used his appearances in ongoing court proceedings to publicly denounce Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine as a crime.

Navalny has already been locked in a punishment cell ten times

The performances, mostly transmitted via video from the prison camp, showed an emaciated prisoner. Navalny has been locked in a punishment cell ten times, for a total of 105 days, says his spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch. She laments the total dehumanization of the system. The politician has to accept these particularly harsh punishments again and again because he messes with guards and sues for rights.

In a post published on Instagram on the second anniversary of his imprisonment, Navalny wrote that a mentally ill man was placed in a cell opposite him in solitary confinement. “He screams 14 hours a day and three at night,” said Navalny. “It is well known that sleep deprivation is one of the most effective forms of torture.” He has experienced and read a lot, but that is something new.

“Everything you read about the horror and fascist crimes of our prison system is all the truth. With one correction: the reality is even worse,” Navalny wrote. For example, there are the well-known rapes with a mop – things that normal people would never think of. “The prison system is run not just by a veritable collection of villains, but by real sick perverts.”

Navalny is revered as a figurehead

Navalny’s team accuses the Kremlin of continuing to do everything possible to eliminate Putin’s most important opponent. The opposition hopes that Putin will suffer a defeat in his war against Ukraine and will have to resign. Navalny, who has made a name for himself as a fighter against corruption, has also shown himself poised to take power as the leader of the unauthorized Party of the Future of Russia. But neither a political leadership role in Russia nor even his release are in sight.

Russia’s liberal opposition, which worships Navalny as a figurehead, is trying to organize underground resistance in Russia, especially from abroad. Navalny’s team continues to uncover much-noticed corruption scandals in Russian politics and shows how, for example, children of high-ranking state officials celebrate lavish parties abroad even in times of war. Millions follow Navalny’s team on social networks, which also brings current political news programs, commentaries and talk shows to YouTube.

Navalny’s political director Leonid Volkov runs the anti-corruption foundation from his exile in Lithuania. He believes Putin’s time is running out and Russia awaits a future in Europe. Above all, however, he is currently concentrating on getting as many war advocates as possible on the West’s sanctions lists. Corruption made Putin’s elite strong for this war, said the founder of the foundation, Navalny. “We’ve been fighting Putin since 2011. We’ll fight him until we win.”

dpa