Alexey Navalny sent to solitary confinement for the seventh time

Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, currently serving time in the Vladimir region’s Melekhovo penitentiary, has been sent to solitary confinement for the seventh time, the politician himself writes in a Twitter post.

“After 14 days in the punishment cell, I've spent the last 6 days in the strict conditions unit. But that's enough rest for me - I don't want to get complacent, do I? They're putting me back in the punishment cell for 11 more days for ‘sweeping the exercise yard poorly and insulting Сriminal Investigator Lieutenant Neimovich by calling him ‘Lieutenant Neimovich’ instead of addressing him by his first name and patronymic,’” the tweet reads.

The first time Navalny said he had been sent to solitary confinement was on 15 August. According to him, that was punishment for “regularly unbuttoning the top button of his prison robe” while in the industrial zone. The second time was on 24 August — for “3 seconds of hands not behind his back”.

The third time was on 30 August, the morning after he was released from his previous stint in solitary confinement. The fourth time was on 7 September, for 15 days.

The fifth time was on 23 September, for “speaking out against mobilisation” during a court session. The sixth time was on 11 October, for “refusing to wash a fence”.