Russian exile media and activists on Wednesday staged a television drama to support the country’s growing number of political prisoners, raising tens of thousands of euros for those behind bars.
Since sending troops into Ukraine, Russia has implemented Soviet-style censorship laws and orchestrated a massive crackdown. There are now 739 political prisoners in Russia, according to Memorial, a leading human rights group.
Concerns about their safety have grown since the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison in February.
Russia’s main independent media outlets Meduza, Dozhd TV and Mediazona, as well as human rights groups, aired a YouTube show on Wednesday called “You’re Not Alone” to raise funds for prisoners and their families.
Lawyers, activists and cultural figures opposed to the invasion of Ukraine were invited to give lectures.
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“People have been in prison for years. They need ongoing support for themselves and their families,” Oleg Navalny, the brother of the late Alexei, said on the program.
He was released in 2018 after serving three and a half years in a case widely seen as punishment for his brother’s political activism.
Navalny highlighted the cost of living in Russian prisons, where food is often deemed insufficient to stay healthy.
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“They won’t die of hunger, but they will suffer greatly,” he said.
Navalny said prisoners are often held in far-flung detention centres, where visits with their families are expensive and they also have to pay legal fees and fines.
There are particular concerns about Vladimir Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British national serving 25 years in a Siberian prison for his condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine and his long-standing criticism of the Kremlin.
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Vadim Prokhorov, one of Kara Murza’s lawyers, who is also now in exile, said Kara Murza was the subject of two suspected poisoning attempts and was already in poor health.
Kara Murza had been held in various types of solitary confinement at Prison Number 6 in Omsk, Siberia, since September, Prokhorov said.
“Unfortunately, this is the path that Mr. Navalny has chosen,” Prokhorov said.
Navalny was frequently in and out of solitary confinement in the months before his death in the Arctic prison.
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