Alexei Navalny's Siberian nightmare: life and death in 'Polar Wolf' penal colony

Navalny was dispatched to "Polar Wolf" towards the previous year's close. Those who have committed dire crimes, along with those opposing Putin, such as Navalny, are condemned to this particular penal colony. The circumstances here are dire, attributable to the harsh local weather and oppressive prison guards. Inmates are assaulted, tormented, and severed from the external world.

It's virtually unapproachable, almost bordering on impossibility to send even letters there. It's the extreme degree of isolation from the world - Navalny's associate, Leonid Volkov, described the penal colony where Navalny was incarcerated.

Former convicts who have survived this place have no doubt it is a veritable living nightmare. One such individual, confiding in "The Sun," conceded that physical assaults are a daily ritual from the moment you set foot in "Polar Wolf." "They strike you hard, aiming for your head, neck, back, practically wherever they fancy," he shared. The inmates are subjected to torment, with one method involving forcible exposure to the freezing environment in minimal clothing, followed by dousing with water.

Navalny's colleague emphasized that inmates spend the lion's share of their time confined within their cells, with even minor infractions met with solitary confinement. These inmates are practically isolated, encountering difficulties accessing a lawyer, a doctor, or correspondence with their dear ones.