Jailed Putin critic reveals shocking conditions within Russia’s prisons

Published

1 year ago

August 26, 2021

Prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has revealed the shocking conditions within Russia’s maximum security prison colony

Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has given his first interview from a maximum security prison colony. The prison is located in Pokrov, 100km east of Moscow.

Navalny is known for his wok exposing corruption in Russia, and is highly critical of the Kremlin.

He compared the conditions within the prison to a ‘Chinese labour camp’, saying that officers force him to watch eight hours of state television every day.

“You need to imagine something like a Chinese labor camp, where everybody marches in a line and where video cameras are hung everywhere. There is constant control and a culture of snitching.”

Through pages of handwritten questions and answers sent from jail, the Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny laid out his case — by turns funny, sarcastic and ironic — for the inevitability of democracy in his country. Read excerpts of the interview: https://t.co/Th6OlroVzT pic.twitter.com/rDSCQN16Rk
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 25, 2021

Russia’s psychological violence

Navalny said that his punishment of brainwashing and propaganda is a form of “psychological violence”.

He gave details as to how guards monitor the prisoners, prohibiting them from reading or writing, and waking them if they fall asleep.

Despite this, Navalny seemed to be in good spirits about the future of Putin’s regime in Russia.

“Sooner or later, this mistake will be fixed, and Russia will move on to a democratic, European path of development. Simply because that is what the people want,” he said.

Navalny calls for US and European governments to drop sanctions

He also reiterated that the US and Europe should remove their current sanctions on Russia, which impact the people more than those in power.

Navalny is currently serving a two and a half year sentence for his criticism of Russia’s president and the Kremlin.

However, this month a federal court also charged him with new crimes that could prolong his sentence by three years, after the next presidential election.

This comes after he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok last year, Putin’s poison of choice. The Kremlin denies any involvement, and insists that his imprisonment isn’t political.

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Natasha Schapova

Natasha is an Associate Producer at ticker NEWS with a Bachelor of arts from Monash University. She has previously worked at Sky News Australia and Monash University as an Online Content Producer.

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Pink-coloured pigeon rescued in New York

Published

9 hours ago

February 1, 2023

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Pigeons come in a whole range of colours, but it seems pink isn’t one of them

That’s exactly what happened in New York though, where a bright-coloured bird was rescued.

Wildlife groups believe the pigeon was dyed as part of a gender reveal ceremony.

The feathery friend was suffering from malnutrition when it was found in Madison Square Park.

In a statement, the Wild Bird Fund says they should never be dyed because of risks like starvation and even death.

It went on to say the “poor bird has it bad enough unable to find food in the wild, fly well or escape predators.”

“But being a bright, unusual colour makes him even more of a target.”

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Iranian couple jailed for online dancing video

Published

9 hours ago

February 1, 2023

ticker NEWS

An Iranian couple have been given jail sentences totalling 10 years after posting a video online.

The two individuals, both in their 20s, were charged for supposedly promoting corruption, prostitution and propaganda.

Authorities have been cracking down on public disobedience.

It follows the death of a woman who was detained by the country’s infamous morality police.

Mahsa Amini died in police custody in September last year, arrested for violating the rule requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf.

Anti-government protests swept across the country after the incident.

The two individuals in the dancing video were reportedly detained after posting the clip to their social media accounts – which have a combined following of more than two million people.

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Donald Trump claims deposition as “biggest witch hunt”

Published

10 hours ago

February 1, 2023

ticker NEWS

Donald Trump has described the investigation into his company as the “biggest witch hunt” in the history of the United States during a formal deposition.

In September 2022, the New York Attorney General Letitia James, announced she would be looking into the Trump organisation’s business practices.

James alleges the former president “falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system”.

The lawsuit also takes aim at some of Trump’s children, and executives of his business.

During the deposition tape, Trump can be seen reading a lengthy statement.

During this, the former president asserts his constitutional right to not answer questions, while accusing James of investigating him out of political spite.