Putin critic Alexei Navalny held in new prison with culture of ‘beatings and torture’

He accused prison officials of fabricating violations against the prisoners they want to punish

Alexei Navalny pictured in 2020 (REUTERS)

Alexei Navalny, the Russian anti-corruption activist, has tweeted an update on his time behind bars after being moved to a new prison.

The critic of Vladimir Putin was sentenced – in a case that Amnesty International described as a “sham” – to nine years in prison on embezzlement and contempt of court charges in March.

That was on top of a two-and-a-half-year sentence for allegedly violating the conditions of his parole while outside Russia. Navalny was arrested in January 2021 after returning from Germany, where he had been recuperating from nerve-agent poisoning he blamed on Russian authorities.