On Tuesday, the administration of the penal colony where Alexey Navalny is serving his sentence announced that the imprisoned politician would be moved from a “punishment cell,” where he has spent more than 100 days, to a different section of the penitentiary, the so-called “PKT,” or “cell-type space.”
Navalny’s new quarters will be another disciplinary space. Prisoners kept there are deprived of “privileges” like family visits. Navalny is being sent there for the maximal permissible term of six months. He writes, on Telegram:
I haven’t had a visit in eight months, and yesterday they told me that I will be moved to a cell-type space for the maximal possible time, half-a-year. No visits are allowed there, so, all in all, over a year without visits. Maniacs and serial killers serving life sentences do have a right to be visited, but I don’t.
Navalny’s attorney Vadim Kobzev reports on his client’s worsening health. Navalny has counter-indications to antibiotic use, Kobzev explains. Nevertheless, the penitentiary deliberately exposed him to an infected cell-mate, then treated him with “huge dozes” of antibiotics. Navalny now has severe abdominal pains, and has lost seven kilograms (15 pounds).
“These actions,” Kobzev writes, “can only be understood as an overt strategy to destroy Navalny’s health by all means available.”
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