Kremlin justifies Navalny’s torture as prison discipline

The fact that Alexei Navalny is woken once an hour in the penal colony is a system of maintaining discipline in correctional institutions, said the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.

According to him, it’s not the responsibility of the Presidential Administration to comment on these issues.

"This, more likely, has to do with the system of maintaining discipline and order in correctional institutions," Peskov said. "The various ways, I would say, of maintaining discipline in prisons around the world are often much more severe and inhumane."

Peskov added that he would not respond to the demands of Navalny’s wife Yulia and did not see systemic problems with the organization of medical care in Russian Federal Penitentiary system.

"There are separate complaints by convicted persons, but we are not aware of any systemic problems in the Federal Penitentiary Service," Peskov said.

Earlier, Navalny’s lawyers reported a sharp deterioration in his health. According to them, Navalny complains of severe back pain and problems with his left leg.

The office of the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Vladimir region said on Thursday that "according to the results of the examination, Navalny’s health condition is assessed as stable and satisfactory."

Navalny himself addressed the director of the Federal Penitentiary Service, Alexander Kalashnikov, with a complaint that an employee of the penal colony comes to his room eight times during the night, turns on the security system, takes a picture of him and announces it aloud.

"In fact, I am subjected to a sleep deprivation torture. At the same time, I was previously reprimanded for getting up 10 minutes earlier than the due time, thereby violating the eight-hour sleep and daily routine," Navalny said in a statement.

Navalny also said that a neurologist is not allowed to visit him and instead of a treatment he is given a simple painkiller.

  Navalny, Russia

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