When Alexei Navalny turns 47 on Sunday, he'll wake up in a bare concrete cell with hardly any natural light.
He won’t be able to see or talk to any of his loved ones. Phone calls and visits are banned for those in “punishment isolation” cells, a 2-by-3-meter space. Guards usually blast patriotic songs and speeches by President Vladimir Putin at him.
He has chronicled his arbitrary placement in isolation, where he has spent almost six months. He’s on a meager prison diet, restricted on how much time he can spend writing letters and forced at times to live with a cellmate with poor personal hygiene, making life even more miserable. The Soviet Union’s far-flung gulag system of prison camps provided inmate labor to develop industries such as mining and logging. While conditions vary among modern-day penal colonies, Russian law still permits prisoners to work on jobs like sewing uniforms for soldiers.
Other inmates are prohibited from making eye contact with Pivovarov in the corridors, contributing to his “maximum isolation,” she said. Letters from supporters lift his spirits, he said. Many people wrote that they used to be uninterested in Russian politics, according to Pivovarov, and “only now are starting to see clearly.”Conditions are easier for some less-famous political prisoners like Alexei Gorinov, a former member of a Moscow municipal council. He was was convicted of “spreading false information” about the army in July over antiwar remarks he made at a council session.
Inmates in his unit can watch TV, and play chess, backgammon or table tennis. There’s a small kitchen to brew tea or coffee between meals, and they can have food from personal supplies.
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