Navalny tells Russian court of ‘freezing’ conditions inside his Arctic prison

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny told a Moscow court of “freezing” conditions inside his prison, as he appeared via video link to outline his case against the authorities at the Siberian penal colony in which he is being held.

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny told a Moscow court of “freezing” conditions inside his prison, as he appeared via video link to outline his case against the authorities at the Siberian penal colony in which he is being held. Addressing the Supreme Court in Moscow, the opposition figure described the harsh conditions he is enduring in Artic prison, where he was transferred to last month, alleging freezing temperatures and a 10-minute limit on eating food. “It is impossible to eat in 10 minutes,” he told the supreme court judge in Moscow. “If you eat every day within 10 minutes, then this meal turns into a rather complex process.” “The punishment cell is often a very cold place,” he continued. “Do you know why people choose a newspaper there? To cover themselves. Because with a newspaper, I can tell you judges, it is much warmer to sleep for example than without one. And so you need a newspaper so as not to freeze.” The opposition figure is suing the prison authorities over the conditions of his detention. Fears for Navalny’s wellbeing mounted last month after his team could not reach him for a fortnight in December. On December 25, his team said that they had finally managed to locate him at the Siberian penal colony in Kharp, to which he had been transferred.