Vadim Ostanin, who headed Navalny’s office in Barnaul, Siberia, was arrested in December 2021, along with four former Navalny executives who were still in the country. He is now under pressure to sign a confession. In return, he would be allowed to see his family in prison. According to his supporters, he rejects this proposal.
In a letter, Ostanin described the unsanitary conditions in his cell. “The rats would come out of a hole in the floor (the toilet) and run around the cell if you didn’t shout at them.” He would also lose fifteen kilograms and suffer from headaches and backaches. However, the guards refused to give him all the necessary medicines.
Navalny himself was sentenced to nine years in prison for fraud in 2022. According to him, it would also be a false accusation. The second verdict is currently awaiting. He could face another 20 years in prison.
Since June 2021, the Russian state has labeled Navalny’s organizations “extremists”. So far, dozens of anti-Kremlin activists and observers have fled abroad to avoid a similar punishment.
(re)watch: Navalny’s supporters put up a replica of the cell in Berlin (26/01/2023)
