Jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny reveals his ‘freshly shaven head’ as he likens his Russian penal colony to a ‘concentration camp’ and says inmates are even banned from swearing
- Navalny says he is woken every hour at night by guards at Russian prison camp
- He was taken to the penal colony after conviction for flouting parole conditions
- His arrest and imprisonment has sparked protests and Western condemnation
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has shared a picture of his ‘freshly shaven head’ from a prison colony in Russia which he likened to a ‘concentration camp’.
Surfacing for the first time since he was moved to the penal colony, Navalny described hellish conditions at the facility 60 miles from Moscow where he claims he is woken every hour at night by guards assigned to prevent his escape.
In a post published on his Instagram account on Monday, he says that inmates are even banned from swearing – saying that the rule is ‘strictly enforced’.
The post confirms that Navalny is being held at the feared Penal Colony No 2 in the town of Pokrov, a facility known for its strict conditions.
‘I think someone upstairs read Orwell’s 1984 and said, yeah, cool, let’s do this,’ said Navalny.
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has shared a picture of his ‘freshly shaven head’ from a prison colony in Russia which he today likened to a ‘concentration camp’
Barbed wire sits on top of a fence at the penal colony in Pokrov, Russia, where Navalny is believed to have been taken
Navalny said in the Instagram post that he had not yet seen any violence but ‘easily believed’ stories of beatings based on the ‘tense posture’ of other prisoners.
‘Video cameras are everywhere, everyone is watched and at the slightest violation they make a report,’ he said.
In a tongue-in-cheek reference to his shaved head, he said: ‘Three things never cease to amaze me. The starry sky above us, the categorical imperative within us and the amazing feeling when you run your palm over your freshly shaven head.’
He went on: ‘I have to admit that the Russian prison system was able to surprise me. I had no idea that it was possible to arrange a real concentration camp 100km from Moscow.
‘That’s what I call my new home – ‘our friendly concentration camp’.
‘Swearing and slang words are prohibited. And this prohibition is strictly enforced. Can you imagine a prison where they don’t swear? A terrible thing.
‘But if you treat everything with humor, then you can live. So, overall, I’m doing well.’
Navalny was handed a lengthy prison term last month for flouting parole conditions in a sentence widely condemned by Western powers.
It sparked a wave of anti-Kremlin protests which in turn have led to a police crackdown that has further angered foreign diplomats.
Navalny had returned to Russia in January five months after surviving a nerve agent attack on board a plane in Siberia which he accuses the Kremlin of orchestrating.
His exact whereabouts had been unclear after he was moved from a jail near Moscow and his lawyers said they did not know where he was being taken.
But it is now confirmed that he is being held in a prison camp in the Vladimir region which is notorious for its strict regime.
More to follow.
Navalny’s imprisonment sparked protests (such as this one in St Petersburg last month) and condemnation by Western powers
Alexei Navalny was imprisoned after returning to Russia earlier this year