{"id":4172,"date":"2021-08-25T23:25:28","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T23:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/in-first-interview-from-jail-russias-navalny-describes-psychological-violence.html"},"modified":"2021-08-25T23:25:28","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T23:25:28","slug":"in-first-interview-from-jail-russias-navalny-describes-psychological-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/in-first-interview-from-jail-russias-navalny-describes-psychological-violence.html","title":{"rendered":"In First Interview From Jail, Russia’s Navalny Describes ‘Psychological Violence’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Russian

In his first media interview from the penal colony where he is being held, Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny discussed his life as a political prisoner, saying he was being forced to watch Russian state television and selected propaganda movies for more than eight hours a day.<\/p>\n

Navalny is also spending much of his time sweeping the prison yard, reading letters in his cellblock, and visiting the mess for meals, with porridge often on the menu, the outspoken critic of the Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a written exchange of questions and answers with The New York Times, which published excerpts on August 25.<\/p>\n

The integrality of the interview, which the newspaper said covers 54 handwritten pages, was published in Russian on Navalny’s website.<\/p>\n

Upon his return from Germany in January, Navalny was jailed for parole violations on what he says were politically motivated charges. The opposition politician has blamed Putin for the poisoning, while the Kremlin denies any involvement.<\/p>\n

The experience of a political prisoner at Correctional Colony No. 3 (IK-3) in the Vladimir region is mostly \u201cpsychological violence,\u201d with forced screen time playing a big role, Navalny wrote.<\/p>\n

Reading, writing, sleeping, \u201cor doing anything else\u201d is prohibited during the five daily sessions of television watching for inmates.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to sit in a chair and watch TV.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described the penal colony as \u201csomething like a Chinese labor camp, where everybody marches in a line and where video cameras are hung everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is organized so that I am under maximum control 24 hours a day,\u201d the Kremlin foe wrote.<\/p>\n

Despite his ordeal, Navalny was upbeat about Russia\u2019s future, calling the \u201cPutin regime\u201d a \u201chistorical accident\u201d that is doomed to collapse.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia will move on to a democratic, European path of development. Simply because that is what the people want,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n