Aleksey Navalny, who is in IK-6 and regularly ends up in ShIZO, posted a post from the colony on his 47th birthday. The message was published in his Telegram channel:
“Today is my birthday. And, waking up in the morning, I joked to myself that I added ShIZO to the piggy bank of places where I celebrated my birthday. And then, like many people who have reached a certain age (and I'm 47 today – stunned), I thought about the achievements for the year and plans for the next.
My achievements are not great, and the psychologist of our colony summarized them best of all the other day. According to the procedure, before being placed in a ShIZO, a health worker (will you stand it) and a psychologist (will you hang yourself) look at you. Well, after our meeting, the psychologist said: we are putting you in the ShIZO for the 16th time, and you are all joking, and your mood is much better than that of the members of the commission. This is true, but on birthday mornings you have to be honest with yourself, and I asked myself the question: am I really in a good mood or am I doing it this way?
My answer is true. What is there to hide, well, it’s understandable, I would like not to wake up in this kennel now, but to have breakfast with my family, receive kisses on the cheek from children, unwrap gifts and say: wow, this is exactly what I dreamed of. But life is arranged in such a way that social progress and a better future are achieved only if a certain number of people are willing to pay for their right to have beliefs. The more such people, the less the payment of each. And the day will surely come when telling the truth and upholding justice will become something ordinary and not at all dangerous in Russia.
In the meantime, until this day has come, in my situation I see not a heavy burden and not a yoke, but simply work that needs to be done. Every job has a bad part, right? Now I have an unpleasant part of my favorite job.
My plan for the previous year was not to get pissed off, embittered, and not to lose the ease of demeanor – that's where the defeat begins. And if I have succeeded, it is only thanks to your support.
As always, on my birthday, I want to thank all the people who have met me in my life. Good for helping and helping. Not good because the experience of communicating with them taught me something. Thanks to my family for always being with me!
But today I would like to convey my deepest thanks and greetings to all political prisoners in Russia, Belarus and other countries. Most of them have a much harder time than me. I think about them all the time. Their resilience inspires me every day."
On May 22, Navalny was sent to a punishment cell for the 16th time. In total, since August last year, he was assigned 180 days of isolation. He repeatedly ended up there for various reasons, for example, because he said the word “fuck” in a conversation with a cellmate or because he violated the uniform and did not wear a jacket. In the ShIZO, people with hygiene problems and patients with the flu were placed next to Navalny. At some point, a man with a mental disorder was placed in the next cell, who screamed day and night, making it impossible to sleep. Navalny also told how the administration of the colony shows him the food he bought and then throws it away as expired.