Jailed Kremlin critic Navalny says prison conditions ‘extremely harsh’ | World News

Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny said on Tuesday he had been transferred back to solitary confinement and forced to endure “extremely hellish” conditions.

Navalny, 46, is serving a prison sentence 11-1/2 in a high-security penal colony charged with fraud and contempt of court, charges he said were fabricated to silence him.a documentary about him won an Oscar last month.

Navalny said he was released from solitary confinement on Friday and was sentenced to another 15 days in prison on Monday after his supporters released an investigation showing that the prison service allegedly paid too much for the cabbage. more and pocket the surplus.

“That’s why the day after my co-workers posted a survey about these funny cabbage stories, they put me in (lockdown), immediately started setting me up for a ‘work cell’, and changed the routine From hell to extreme hell,” he tweeted.

Navalny survived an attempt to poison him in 2020 and has been jailed multiple times over the past year, with supporters saying his life is in danger as his health deteriorates.

An ambulance was called to the colony on Friday night after Navalny’s condition worsened with a stomach bug, lawyer Vadim Kobzev said. He tweeted that the prisoner had lost 8 kilograms (18 pounds) during his latest 15 days in solitary confinement.

Navalny, who has released dozens of videos over the years alleging what he says is widespread corruption in Russia, also said prison officials “had a totally illegal rule that forbade me from buying food, even with the money I earned. .”

Russia’s Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last week Russia said Navalny’s supporters offered help Assassination of war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in St. Petersburg.