Jailed Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition politician, has been imprisoned for refusing to fasten his top button and encouraging fellow inmates to form a trade union.
According to a post on Mail Online, Navalny was summoned by prison officials and told that video surveillance showed him frequently unbuttoned his prison clothes while in the work area.
This comes just days after he announced the formation of a labor union for convicts, of which he claimed to be the sole member at the time.
According to Navalny, the union successfully argued for the replacement of backless stools with chairs in the prison sewing shop where he works.
According to the post on Monday, August 15, the real reason prison officials sent him to solitary confinement was his union activity.
‘The Kremlin wants its gulag to be filled with voiceless slaves. ‘And here I am, instead of pleading for forgiveness, uniting some people and demanding that some laws be followed,’ he explained.
‘This definitely defines me as a hopeless villain. So, it was decided to send me to punitive solitary confinement for three days, according to the post.
According to the post, prison officials told Navalny that if he “doesn’t change (his) attitude,” his stay would be extended.
Solitary confinement was described in the post as “the most severe punishment in the legal prison hierarchy” – a small concrete cell that is “very hot and there is almost no air.”
A metal bed is attached to a wall, and a mattress and pillow are only delivered at 9 p.m. and removed at 5 a.m.
‘Visitation is now permitted, but letters and parcels are not. It is the only place in the prison where smoking is prohibited,’ according to the post.
According to the post, Navalny’s only possessions are “a mug and a book,” and he has a pen and some paper for just over an hour per day.
The book he is reading is 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari, he added.
The solitary confinement cell is a 2.5 x 3 metre concrete kennel. Most of the time it’s unbearable in there because it’s cold and damp. There’s water on the floor. I got the beach version – it’s very hot and there’s almost no air,’ Navalny wrote.
‘The window is tiny, but the walls are too thick for any air flow – even the cobwebs don’t move.’ he added
Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic inside Russia, is serving an 11-1/2 year sentence after being found guilty of parole violations and fraud, and contempt of court charges.
He says all the charges were fabricated as a pretext to jail him in order to thwart his political ambitions.
