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Alexei Navalny
Dnevnik Express
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Leading Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny announced that he will be moved to a cell with even stricter detention conditions, a day after a Russian appeals court upheld his 19-year sentence for extremism, “AFP” reported.
Navalny is currently in a penal colony in Melehovo, 250 km east of Moscow, where he is regularly sent to a disciplinary cell. This time, the opposition politician is to be imprisoned in a cell known as “EPKT” – the single cell with the most severe conditions in the Russian prison system.
“Yesterday, immediately after the appeal of the case against me, they took me to the commission and announced that due to my incorrigibility, I will be transferred to EPKT for 12 months,” Navalny announced via a message on social networks. Since his arrest in January 2021, he has communicated mainly through messages sent to his lawyers and then posted on social media.
“One year EPKT is the worst possible sentence in prison colonies,” explained Navalny. He added that he felt “like a jaded rock star on the brink of depression who has reached the top of the charts and has nothing left to aspire to”.
A Russian court upheld Navalny’s 19-year sentence
It is not yet clear whether these 12 months in solitary confinement will delay the transfer of Alexei Navalny to a new colony with even stricter conditions, as required by the new sentence. According to the decision, Navalny must serve the term of this sentence in one of the special regime colonies, usually reserved for lifers and the most dangerous criminals.
