Kremlin media campaign against Alexei Navalny: videos in prison and a spy as a journalist in prison

Russian media linked to the Kremlin have launched an offensive to counter recent accusations by Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, who denounced the ill-treatment in prison, refuting his arguments and presenting the penal colony where he is detained as “exemplary”.

Alexei Navalny, 44, announced last week that went on hunger strike for medical treatment to treat severe back pain that he claims to suffer, as well as a loss of sensation in the legs.

But the portal Life.ru, known for his sources in the security services, published a video recorded by a surveillance camera in the penal colony where the anti-corruption activist is detained.

In the footage, a Navalny-looking man, dressed in a blue uniform and with a shaved head, is seen walking through what appears to be a bedroom. The video is dated March 26, two weeks after admission and one day after announcing that his health was deteriorating.

“Judging from the video, the only thing he doesn’t feel is remorse and fear that his lies will be exposed”, states, ironically, the article that accompanies the video.

Alexei Navalny, who survived poisoning last year, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for fraud in a 2014 case. The opponent compared the prison to a “Concentration camp” and accused his guards of torturing him, wake up eight times a night.

To dismiss the charges, Russian state television broadcast a video showing Sleeping navalny.

The spy journalist

On the other hand, a team of the Russian public television channel RT went to the penal colony to film it. The team is led by Maria Necessary, known to have been jailed for about 18 months in the United States after attempting to infiltrate political circles.

In the Telegram messaging service, Necessary assured that Navalny “He looked quite normal”. In addition, he added that the penal colony, “Almost exemplary […] it looks like a pioneer camp ” and that the other inmates complained about Navalny’s behavior.

“They should be spending time in an American jail,” Butina said wryly before the cameras.

Negative to covid

Navalny’s allies denounce that the prison services “slowly kill” the politician. The concern of his supporters is all the greater as the opponent narrowly survived a poisoning in August, for which he blamed the Kremlin.

Tuesday, several of his supporters, including doctors, were detained outside his penal colony, where he had come to ask for information on the activist’s condition.

As reported this Monday by the newspaper Izvestia, Navalny was transferred to the prison infirmary with a high fever – over 38 degrees – and symptoms of respiratory illness. On the same day, Navalni reported on social media that three of his fellow barracks were diagnosed with tuberculosis.

However, this Wednesday, Navalny tested negative for coronavirus in a first test, said his lawyer, Olga Mijailova. The lawyer also said the politician started to feel numbness in your hands.

“He continues to have pain in his back, in his leg, besides everything that loses sensation, besides his legs, his hands are now also involved.“Mijailova said.

Today Izvestia reported that Navalny’s medical examinations have also ruled out that he has tuberculosis.

According to preliminary findings, the deterioration of the health of the politician is due to an acute respiratory infection.

The sources of the Russian newspaper indicated that Navalny is under medical supervision but refuses to take medication. According to the lawyer, the penal colony doctor believes Navalny should be prescribed diclofenac and nicotinic acid. The opponent considers that this treatment is insufficient and still requires an independent medical examination.

According to his lawyer, the prison is short of nurses and doctors and he said that his client weighed 80 kg the day before compared to 93 when he arrived at Pokrov camp and 85 at the start of the hunger strike.

Navalny returned to Russia in January after recovering for five months in Germany and was immediately arrested and then sentenced to two and a half years in prison for an old fraud case he considers political.

Jail Pokrov is known to be one of the toughest prisons in Russia and some compare it to a “concentration camp”.

Navalny frequently expresses himself on social media without knowing how these messages get out of jail.

Since Navalny’s return to Russia, his supporters have faced increasing repression.

On Tuesday, a court sentenced one of its staunchest allies, Liubov Sobol, to a fine of 5,500 euros for having “defamed” a close friend of the president Vladimir Poutine, the businessman Evguéni Prigojine.

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