The support team of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny have installed a small concrete box marked with the word SHIZO (meaning punishment cell in Russian) behind the Louvre Museum in Paris, to try and raise awareness over his dire conditions of detention.
The grey box measuring 3 metres by 2 metres is a mock-up of the SHIZO punishment prison cell where Navalny has spent more than 100 days since he was transferred to the Melekhovo penal colony in June 2022.
Inside the dimly lit box is a little washbasin, a toilet on the ground and a simple bed, which is folded away during the day.
His team call it "a prison inside a prison".
“We launched the project because we realised that when we want to explain to the West what a Russian prison is like, very few people really understand,” Ivan Jdanov, head of Navalny's FBK anti-corruption foundation, told RFI.
“Basically prison in Russia is already a form of torture."
Caged like an animal
Navalny, the main opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is serving a nine-year sentence for embezzlement and other charges. His supporters regard this as a punishment for having challenged the Kremlin.
Navalny is regularly sent to the SHIZO cell, his supporters say, for reasons such as not having buttoned his prison uniform correctly or not keeping his hands behind his back when walking in the courtyard.
While periods of isolation in the SHIZO do not usually exceed 15 days, Navalny spent 91 days in isolation last year.
Access to hot water is restricted and visits and packages are forbidden. He can use a paper and pen for just 35 minutes per day and is allowed only one book.
The installation arrived from Berlin and will remain in Paris for two weeks. It is open to the public day and night.
Martine Fuguet, one of the visitors, said Navalny was being kept in a cage like an animal. She said she felt a sense of repulsion on entering the cell and that she wanted to get out immediately.
Vsevolod Tlelov, an opposition activist who fled Russia last year, said the installation represented a different universe. "This is the life we don't deserve," he added.
Isolation as a weapon
Navalny's supporters say the installation is a way of keeping him and his battle in the public eye while Moscow continues to do everything it can to silence him.
“We are trying to draw attention to our cause, on Alexei’s situation and that of all Russian political prisoners, Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh told RFI. “This cell is symbolic of the way they are treated.”
While Navalny is not being held in the isolation cell at the moment, Yarmysh said his conditions were scarcely better.
"The only difference with the SHIZO cell is that he has the right to two books not one.
"Putin is doing everything to stop Alexei continuing his political activities, by giving him heavier sentences [...] and also by trying to silence him by isolating him as much as possible inside prison.”
Oscar easier than getting fair trial
Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-made nerve agent, in 2020. He barely survived, and accused Putin of being behind the attack, though Russia has denied attempting to kill him.
He went to Germany for treatment, violating parole on old fraud charges.
On his return to Russia, he was immediately detained and sentenced to three-and-a-half years behind bars.
In March 2022, his jail time was extended to nine years.
The film "Navalny" by Canadian Daniel Roher won the Oscar for best feature documentary on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Navalny dedicated his part in the film to those fighting against dictatorship and war.
"This Oscar was easier for Alexei to get than a fair trial because that doesn't exist in Russia," said Jdanov.
