Dmitry Novikov from Russia’s Kazan spent two years in Penal Colony No. 3 in Vladimir region, where the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died on February 16, had previously served his sentence.
In total, Novikov spent 10 years in Russian detention facilities, where he was subjected to physical and psychological torture. Threatened with a return to prison, he decided to flee the country and found his way to Lithuania.
In an interview with LRT.lt, he speaks about the conditions and his experience in Russian penal colonies.
Dmitry, what was your reaction to Navalny’s death?
I said right away that he was murdered. And I predicted such an outcome in an interview two years ago.
You spent more than 10 years in Russian prisons. What were you sentenced for?
For building an extremist community, propagating extremism online, and hooliganism. Another prison sentence was added while I was already in the colony, and the offences against me, according to the criminal case files, were committed while I was already in prison.
You served two years in the same colony No. 3 in the Vladimir region, where Navalny was imprisoned in 2021. It is notorious for torturing opposition members. What can you say about the conditions there?
I will say the following about Motorny – that is the name of Penal Colony No. 3 in Vladimir region – they bring people there to break them. Alexei was brought there for the same purpose from another colony when he went on a hunger strike.
I said at the time that he was sent there to force him to end his hunger strike and, as you remember, he gave up his hunger strike after about a week. There are “pressure” booths there – special cells, barracks, where convicts cooperating with the administration either kill or torture other convicts indicated to them. At that time, these cells were located in the convicts’ hospital. The prison also has a psychiatric ward, where, in addition to regular beatings and humiliation, special drugs are administered to particularly problematic inmates.
As I know, sexual violence is often practised there and filmed. I don’t know what methods were used against Alexei but I know that he gave up his hunger strike, even though he didn’t plan to do so at first.
As for me, I was in solitary confinement for the last year. Before that, I spent a year in a barrack under strict conditions. We were kept there in groups of 5–6 people. There were times when people were transferred to the barracks from mental hospitals, while they were still under the influence of drugs. It was very scary to watch.
I, and many others before and after me, have been injected with a product called Madame Depot. After a six-month course, you become a vegetable. In general, after such things, you take the threat of being made insane very seriously.
In such a state, you are also subjected to electric shocks or beaten with “carrots”. This is a specially twisted bath towel. It feels like you’ve been hit with a stick, but it doesn’t leave a mark.
You said that the FSB officers came to see you and that after their visit you ended up in intensive care. You, like other prisoners, had a blood clot. After Navalny’s death, the same diagnosis was announced, although we should clarify that doctors could not make such a diagnosis so quickly because it requires an autopsy. What was it like in your case?
I personally know of several such cases besides myself. They happened to Muslims who participated in the activities of an organisation that is recognised as extremist in Russia.
I will also tell you my own case. At that time, I was in penal colony No. 6 in Ishim, Tyumen Oblast. The Revolution of Dignity had just taken place in Ukraine, and Russia was occupying parts of Donbas and Luhansk.
One afternoon, I was summoned to the office of the head of the detachment. When I went in, I saw not the head of the detachment but two people in civilian clothes who introduced themselves as FSB officers. I was offered to write a statement saying that I could not bear to hear how Russian people were being killed in Donbas and asking to be sent there to the frontline where I would prove that I had changed.
As I was told, my application would be approved as soon as possible, I would be sent to Donbas, and from there, I would return home in six months to a year if I wanted to. I was also required to record a video message to Russian nationalists calling on them to help the Russians in Donbas. But this was opposite to my beliefs regarding this war that started back in 2014. I’m completely on the side of the Ukrainians, so I categorically refused. They did not threaten or try to persuade me, and this, of course, seemed a little strange to me.
Before leaving, I was offered to drink some tea, which I didn’t refuse. After my return, everything was as usual. The next morning, I felt a strong pain in my chest and applied for a doctor’s appointment. I sat down on a stool, lit a cigarette, and woke up only after being slapped on the cheeks.
I opened my eyes and saw that I was already in the sanitary unit of the colony. A convict who worked there was sitting next to me and told me that they had already called an ambulance for me and that if I was lucky, everything would be fine. I was lucky – the ambulance came quickly and half an hour later, I was taken to Ishim City Hospital, where I stayed in intensive care for two weeks.
The diagnosis was a heart attack. The doctors were genuinely surprised that I survived.
Why did you drink the tea, or did you have no choice?
When something is offered there, it is not acceptable to refuse because it is not clear how the refusal can be interpreted.
How has all this affected your health?
My eyesight has deteriorated quite a lot. I felt very exhausted for a long time because of what happened to me. In Russia, many people understand what it is like to be sent somewhere to be broken. Everyone is treated differently – some are simply beaten; others are subjected to inhuman conditions that damage their psyche.
Upon my return, I had a real fear of crowds because of the fact that I was kept alone for a long time. But I have now recovered.
In general, what do Russian colonies look like today? Many of them were created on the basis of former Gulags and their essence has probably not changed.
On the whole, if you look at the Russian colonies now, they certainly look better than they did in the days of the Gulags, but their essence is still the same – cannibalistic.
The only reason why they have a presentable appearance is because the wealthy inmates are forced to pay for repairs and building materials. In Tyumen Oblast, indeed, most of the colonies have existed since the times of the Gulags.
The colony where Navalny died, as well as Motorny, has been the subject of horrible stories of torture and abuse among the convicts. More than once, this colony has been mentioned in connection with torture scandals.
When I was still in Siberia myself, several incidents were reported in the media one after another. For a long time, one of the colony’s operatives was torturing convicts to get them to plead guilty in “hanging cases” [unsolved cases], while he received bonuses for solving them.
And there was another story when a convict was beaten to death in the “pressure” booth. During my time in prison, I met with convicts from there, and they were ready to do anything to avoid going back there.
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