Putin is trying to crush his opposition with severe psychological pressure in Siberian prisons (Picture: EPA/Getty/AP)
Electrocution, beatings, medical neglect and severe psychological pressure – this is how Vladimir Putin is trying to crush his critics inside his new Siberian Gulags.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British national, looks gaunt, pale and weak after being locked up in the IK-6 prison colony in the town of Omsk, Russia.
He is serving his 25-year sentence for treason – the longest handed down to any Kremlin opponent since Soviet times – in a two-metre wide cell, which can reach sub-zero temperatures.
At 5am, the activist and politician is woken up with the Russian national anthem, blasting from a loudspeaker.
By 5.20am, the guards have confiscated his pillow and mattress, and locked up his metal bed frame, so that he cannot not use it for the rest of the day.
The only objects Vladimir is allowed to keep are a mug, a toothbrush, a towel and a pair of slippers.
Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza waves from a glass cage in a courtroom in Moscow, on July 31, 2023 (Picture: AP)
The light in the cell is also never turned off – a psych warfare tactic deployed by East German Stasis.
Vladimir is permitted a walk, lasting no longer than 90 minutes, around a concrete courtyard the size of his cell with a metal grille in place of a roof.
At all times, he is forced to keep his hands behind his back, while CCTV cameras trail him around the clock.
Twice every day, the political prisoner is dragged to an inspection room, at 9am and 5pm.
Vladimir is stripped naked while guards run a metal detector over his clothes and underwear.
Vladimir is serving a 25-year sentence over charges including treason (Picture: Getty)
He is the most high-profile political prisoner in Russia (Picture: Getty)
Meanwhile, he has to recite: ‘Kara-Murza, Vladimir Vladimirovich, date of birth September 7, 1981, convicted under criminal code articles 284.1 part one, 207.3 part two, 275. Start date of sentence, April 22 2022. End date of sentence, April 21 2047.’
Journalist Arkady Ostrovsky, who has been corresponding with Vladimir while in jail, detailed his friend’s treatment in the colony for the Daily Mail.
He has become the highest-profile political prisoner in Russia after the killing of Alexei Navalny.
Both men were poisoned with Novichok. Vladimir fell into prolonged comas twice, in 2015 and then 2017, which left him with a nerve disease called polyneuropathy.
His wife Evgenia told Metro.co.uk last year that she fears that the Kremlin will make yet another attempt on his life.
Evgenia Kara-Murza, the wife of Kremlin critic, who has been speaking out on his behalf (Picture: AFP)
Since his detention last year, the mum-of-three has been speaking out on his and other political prisoners’ behalf.
She told us that ‘publicity is her only weapon’ against Putin’s regime, and how she is being pushed forward by ‘fury and indignation’.
‘I need to make sure the world knows, does not turn away and understands what is happening in Russia to all those who stand up and voice their opposition to the regime,’ she said.
‘It is not just my husband. We are talking about tens of thousands of people. More than 20,000 people have been detained across the country since the launch of the invasion of Ukraine.
‘It is harder to kill someone when the entire world is watching. I will make sure the names and stories are known to make it harder for Russia’s regime to further put pressure on these people or try the unthinkable. This is honestly my only weapon.’
Vladimir was arrested on charges of disobeying police orders in April 2022, facing up to 15 days behind bars or a fine, but was later charged for denouncing Russia’s war in Ukraine and treason.
A protégé of murdered Putin rival Boris Nemtsov, he was the vice-chairman of the Open Russia movement, a political organisation founded by businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which promotes civil society and democracy in the country.
It is these activities that led to the two near-fatal poisoning attempts, his allies claim.
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