'Punishment cells', 'freezing' conditions, and 'torture': Alexei Navalny's harrowing time in jail

Alexei Navalny spent three years in some of Russia's toughest prisons. This is some of what the prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin faced.

Left: Alexei Navalny appears via videolink at court in 2022. Right: An aerial view of the IK-3 penal colony where he died on Friday. Source: Getty, Google

Hundreds of days in solitary confinement, ailing health, and virtually no contact with the outside world. This is just some of what Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny experienced during his time in Russia's prison system.

The prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin died on Friday after feeling unwell following a walk at the IK-3 penal colony, according to the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.

He collapsed and never regained consciousness.

The remote IK-3, known as "Polar Wolf", is in Kharp, about 1,900km northeast of Moscow and about 60km north of the Arctic Circle. It's said to be one of Russia's toughest prisons, with most prisoners there convicted of grave crimes.

Navalny, 47, was transferred there in December, during the harsh winter, in a move one of his spokespeople at the time said was designed to make his life harder and isolate him.

Prisoners there reportedly can face torturous collective punishment.

Recounting the testimony of one released in 2018, prisoners' rights activist Olga Romanov told Radio Free Europe in December a group was forced to stand outside when it was -45C and weren't allowed to move. If one person did, they'd all be doused with water.

And in spring, some prisoners were forced to stand in swarms of "mosquito and biting flies", Romanov said.

The remote IK-3 is said to be one of Russia's toughest prisons. Source: AAP, SIPA USA / TASS

Navalny, whose social media accounts are run by his team, wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Thursday that he had been given 15 days in a "punishment cell" — also known as solitary confinement. He spent more than 300 days in these cells during his three years in prison. At IK-3, he wrote it was his fourth time in one in less than two months.

On another occasion in early January, Navalny wrote he was placed in one for failing to introduce himself. He shared a photo of his "exercise yard" where he was permitted to take an early-morning walk.

"Eleven steps from the wall and 3 to the wall," he wrote on X. "Not much of a walk, but at least some movement, so I go out."

Appearing via video link in January as he challenged the conditions of his detentions, he told a Moscow court of the "freezing" conditions inside the prison and said there was a 10-minute limit on eating meals.

"The punishment cell is often a very cold place," he told the Supreme Court judge. "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."

Alexei Navalny's time in other Russian prisons

Navalny was serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges. He had been behind bars since he returned from Germany in January 2021, serving time on various charges that he rejected as a politically motivated effort to keep him imprisoned for life.

His return to Russia was voluntary and came after he had been treated for what Western laboratory tests showed was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent.

Navalny said at the time that he was poisoned in Siberia in August 2020. The Kremlin denied trying to kill him and said there was no evidence he was poisoned with a nerve agent.

Alexei Navalny was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critics. Source: AAP, SIPA USA / SOPA Images

At the IK-2 penal colony, where he was held upon his return, he at one stage went on a hunger strike because prison authorities refused him access to a doctor. There, Navalny also claimed he was subject to sleep deprivation torture due to guards checking on him hourly at night. He eventually secured some medical treatment, but he did not prevail in his legal challenge to overturn regular nightly checks.

In January 2023, Navalny wrote that a prisoner with severe mental health problems had been placed in a neighbouring cell.

"There are many videos online about people who believe that they are possessed by demons and devils," he said.

Navalny said the prisoner was "very similar", and added: "He yells for 14 hours during the day and three hours at night".

In June last year, Navalny was transferred to the "monstrous" IK-6 penal colony. Source: Getty, AFP / Andrey Borodulin

He also spent time at the "monstrous" IK-6 penal colony, where he was transferred in June last year.

"Abuse and torture are used against inmates in many Russian prisons, but IK-6 in Melekhovo is a monstrous place, even by such insane standards," his spokesperson Kira Yarmysh wrote on X in May last year.

A reconstruction of Alexei Navalny's jail cell in Place du Luxembourg, in front of the European Parliament, in June 2023. Source: Getty / Thierry Monasse

While there, he wrote that he had been forced to listen to Putin's State of the Nation Address every night for 100 days, and would continue to be subjected to it for the rest of the year.

A letter shared on his Instagram account that appeared to be from the prison service said this was to ensure his “respectful attitude to society, work, and the norms and rules of human behaviour”.

Navalny's lawyers often protested that he was deprived of contact with his family. They at times were refused access to him, and last year three were arrested on suspicion of belonging to an "extremist group" — an action Navalny said was illegal and showed the weakness of authorities.

His health became of increased concern among his legal team, family, and supporters. Last year, they said he was suffering from acute stomach pain and had begun having seizures.

But despite the testing conditions, Navalny's trademark humour endured.

In a video posted a day before his death, he appeared well and cheerful as he gave testimony by video link — peering through a barred window, laughing and cracking jokes about his depleting funds and the judge's salary.

"Your Honour, I will send you my personal account number so that you can use your huge salary as a federal judge to 'warm up' my personal account, because I am running out of money," he said.

- With Reuters.