Alexei Navalny, the face of opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, attended the court hearing via video call on Wednesday, with his usual sarcastic humour. This was the first time he had been seen since his transfer to one of Russia's harshest penal colonies, in northwest Siberia.
A hearing was held on one of the lawsuits filed by the political activist against the administration of the penal prison where he was detained from 2022 until the end of 2023, in Melikhovo, due to the conditions of his detention and the punitive measures taken. This applies to him, especially in solitary confinement.
Navalny used his usual sarcastic tone to talk about the climate in the Arctic Circle, and asked whether officials at Melikhovo prison, known as IK-6, had held a party to celebrate his transfer. He also admitted how much he missed the guards at the former prison complex and the court staff.
Regarding the party, the IK-6 representative asked the judge to ignore the case, but Navalny rephrased his doubts: “Was it just a party or was it a party with”? karaoke“There is still time to point to the event that shocked conservative Russian society at the end of December, and ask whether a nudist party was organized in the prison.
In photos published by Russian news agencies, Navalny can be seen in a cell, wearing dark clothes and shaved hair, in the prison of the city of Kharp in Siberia.
The first photos of Alexei @Navalny From its maximum security colony in the far north of Russia. Navalny appeared in court today via video. He is suing the prison administration in protest against the disciplinary punishments and harsh conditions.
Photo: Alexandra Astakhova/Mediazona pic.twitter.com/FtNXILQK7i
— Mediazona English (@mediazona_en) January 10, 2024
He apparently said: “Your Honor, a tear, a tear streaming down my face – I'm very happy to see you all. Dear Kovrov Court, dear defendants, dear defence, I'm very happy to see you.” good mood. .
“The conditions are here [na colónia penal de Kharp] – And I am addressing you, respected defendants – they are better than they were in IK-6, in the Vladimir region,” the Kremlin critic declared. “But there is a problem, and I don’t know in which court I can file a complaint,” he added, laughing, according to what was reported by the Associated Press. Regarding it: The climate here is bad.
Hey location Independent Russian news agency Mediazona wrote that the court showed a video of an incident last year in which Navalny insulted a prison guard who confiscated a pen from him. As punishment, he spent nearly two weeks in isolation.
The opponent of the Russian regime admitted on Wednesday that he should not have “shouted” at the guard and that he went too far in insulting him, but he stressed that he had the right to write the articles and that the punishment he was subjected to was illegal. .
As expected, the judge ended up ruling in favor of those responsible for the arrest, rejecting any violation of the law.
Alexei Navalny, 47, was transferred to Kharp last December, after months of isolation in the IK-6 penal colony. He has been detained since January 2021 and sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison.
Last Tuesday, his representatives published on social media statements made by Navalny from prison, denouncing the new and successive penalties for confinement in solitary confinement.
“The idea that Vladimir Putin would just put me in a cage in the far north and I would stop being tortured in punishment cells was not only cowardly, but naive,” he said, describing the routine of imprisonment in Russia. A place where temperatures reach minus 30 degrees Celsius in January.
“Hardcore alcohol maven. Hipster-friendly analyst. Introvert. Devoted social media advocate.”
