[ad_1]
IN Russia has penal camps with different regimes, from ordinary camps to special penal colonies. Alexei Navalny, a critic of the Kremlin, has been sentenced to two and a half years of forced labor in a general penal camp. These camps do not fall into the worst category, but they remain a legacy of the famous Soviet Gulag system, writes DW.
The terrifying camps in Xinjiang: How China re-educates Uighurs
Most of the camps are located in hard-to-reach places, generally far from any civilization. This also applies to the living conditions in them.
“People are mentally broken there”
“You cannot imagine the unimaginable conditions in which people have been held there for years,” said Pyotr Kuryanov, who is committed to protecting the rights of prisoners.
“There you gradually lose your mind,” he added.
See the secret assistants of the prisoners at Auschwitz
Kuryanov knows from personal experience what he is talking about. He himself was in such a camp, and the time he spent there left deep marks.
“The worst thing in these camps is not the walls, the barbed wire or the observation towers. The worst thing is the barracks where the campers live. You don’t have a personal sphere,” Kuryanov said.
“These are dormitories with dozens of bunk beds,” said Olga Romanova, who founded an organization to help detainees. Both showers and toilets are open and visible from anywhere in the camp. The same applies to washing rooms. At the same time, it is a luxury that there are no showers in the camp. Campers often only have toilets, says Romanova.
The horrible story of a Bulgarian slave made Italy cry
Kuryanov also explains that the law of violence governs the camps, both physically and mentally, both between the prisoners themselves and by the guards. The slightest occasion is sufficient, for example, an unbuttoned garment or a supposedly unsent greeting to impose a penalty.
“It is a nightmare without end, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for years,” Kuryanov said.
“Most of the people who fall into this system, inherited from the Soviet Gulag, are mentally shattered,” Kuryanov added. And Olga Romanova adds: “Almost nothing has changed in the daily routine in recent decades. Waking up at 6:00 in the morning to loud music. Then making the beds and washing. Morning check, then exercise, regardless of the outside temperature. “. .
Then everyone goes to breakfast, where a piece of bread with margarine and gruel of disgusting quality awaits them. Each prisoner earns just 80 cents a day for food, explains the human rights activist.
How Bulgaria almost became a Yugoslav republic
On the insulator
After breakfast, everyone goes to work together at the camp, the assembly line, or the sewing workshop. Then there is a short break for lunch. The food is served on aluminum plates. No forks or knives are used, everything is eaten with aluminum spoons. Whoever hides a piece of bread in his pocket runs the risk of being sent to solitary confinement, says Olga Romanova. And that means days, weeks, or even months in a single cold, bare cell.
The working day usually lasts until dinner. There is only an hour or two of free time left until bedtime. In most camps there is a library, a club, and a common living room with a television that can only be viewed on state television.
One of the most wanted Nazis of World War II.
Attorney visits are difficult, but still possible.
“It is more difficult for a family member to visit him. They have the right to visit him once a month, and the conversation takes place through a glass wall on the phone. The meeting lasts a maximum of four hours,” Romanova said. In theory, campers can be visited for up to three days at least every three months. But the rooms provided for this purpose are few and it is very difficult to hurt yourself. And the camp leadership used this fact as a means of putting pressure on the detainees.
A prisoner of war exchanges piercing glances with Himmler
In view of the public interest in Navalny’s fate, the camp guards will likely refrain from using violence, Olga Romanova believes. But otherwise, in the Russian camps, death is a frequent guest: “A person may fall off a ladder or become involved in a conflict with another prisoner who simply stabs him.” Those things happen a lot, “Romanova said.
