It’s cold in Russia. But unlike his fellow inmates, the imprisoned Kremlin opponent Navalny, according to his own words, does not get winter boots and has to freeze. The politician announces legal steps – and calls on his supporters to fight for freedom.
The imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexej Navalny wants to sue the high-security prison where he is serving a nine-year sentence for missing winter boots. “I am suing my prison colony and demanding that they provide me with winter boots,” Navalny said in a message published on Twitter. Weeks ago, the prison had been switched to winter clothing. “My vicious jailers brazenly won’t give me my winter boots.”
The 46-year-old is being held near the city of Vladimir, around 230 kilometers east of Moscow. Temperatures there were recently minus six degrees.
The missing winter boots are an “excellent example of the underhandedness and sophisticated system of pressure exertion” in Russian prisons, Navalny wrote. “If they don’t give you winter boots, it means you don’t go for a walk (and you suffer from it) or you go for a walk and get sick (which has happened to me)”. Getting sick in prison is “absolutely not recommended,” said the Russian opposition politician.
Navalny also addressed his supporters, who sent him letters and wrote about “darkness and depression”. “Pull yourself together. If you’re alive, healthy and free, it’s not so bad. Finish your pumpkin latte and do something to bring freedom to Russia.”
The opposition politician was arrested in January last year. He had previously flown to Russia from Germany, where he had recovered from a poison attack. Navalny was later sentenced to nine years in prison for fraud. He denies the allegations. In October he announced that new charges would be brought against him, which could carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.