Alexei Navalny sent to punishment cell for eleventh time for “inappropriately introducing himself”

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Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been placed in punitive solitary confinement for the eleventh time, according to a post on the Navalny team’s Telegram channel. The politician said he was sent to a punishment cell during a court hearing on his lawsuit against the prison administration.

“I introduced myself inappropriately again,” Navalny said, explaining why he was given eight more days in a SHU cell. “This is systemic pressure put on me in connection with my political activities: [the prison authorities] introduced censorship, they keep me in a punishment cell, they put a lunatic opposite [me] who yells, they don't let lawyers in,” the politician added.

Alexei Navalny has spent a total of 113 days in the SHU since mid-August last year.

The day prior, supporters of the opposition leader placed an exact replica of the punishment cell outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin in an effort to raise awareness of his fate. Navalny's brother Oleg attended the unveiling of the installation.

In January, Navalny's lawyer reported that the politician was seriously ill with a fever and cough, while the prison refused to properly treat him.