The Russian politician Alexey Navalny, currently imprisoned in the Vladimir region’s Sixth penal colony, is once again locked in a solitary confinement cell. This is the sixth of Navalny’s back-to-back stays in an unventilated six-by-ten-foot cell referred to as the “SHIZO,” or “disciplinary isolator.”
Navalny’s social media accounts explain that, this time, the pretext for the punishment was the politician’s refusal to wash a fence. “I’m once again in the SHIZO,” he wrote.
I just spent 12 days here, and now I’m given another 14. The reason: I refused to wash a fence. Well, I understand that painting a fence is kind of fun, you get to play Tom Sawyer. But washing a fence is demented. So, here I am sitting on a backless stool on my six meters square. For belongings, all I have is a mug (one item) and a book (one item). But I’m already used to this. I don’t even understand why anyone should need more for a fulfilling life.
The Russian law limits the time an inmate can spend in solitary confinement to 15 days. The penal colony’s authorities are getting around this limit by sending Navalny back to the “SHIZO” as soon as he is released.
Navalny was first isolated in the penal cell on August 12, for three days. Then he got five days, seven days, and then another 15. After criticizing the mobilization in his September 21 court speech, Navalny was punished with another 12 days of isolation under extreme conditions.
The new penalty means that Navalny’s practically uninterrupted stay in an airless cell will be almost quadruple the maximum permitted for this type of punishment.
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