The Arctic gulag where Putin sends opponents like Alexei Navalny to die forces prisoners to suffer sub zero temperatures and even sees them threatened with rape if they fail to stump up bribes to pay off guards. One of the most harrowing accounts of life inside the IK-6
prison colony in the town of Omsk in Russia's frozen Siberian region comes from journalist and political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza. Kara-Murza - a Russian-British political activist and journalist - was arrested in April 2022 and charged with disobeying
police orders. After his arrest, authorities heaped on trumped up charges including "discrediting" the military. Finally, that October, he was hit with the charge of treason and slapped with a 25-year sentence in one of Russia's worst penal colonies. Every single day, guards wake up the prison population with the
Russian national anthem at 5am. What is even more important for prisoners is that it marks a 5-minute window before guards enter the cell to swipe their pillow and mattresses in a particularly vindictive move. And just 15 minutes later, his metal bed frame would be locked to the wall of his 16ft by 6ft 6in cell, so there was absolutely no possibility of him spending the day in bed with hard
Labour to do outside. Beauty fans rave over 'great' beauty formula that makes skin 'clearest ever' A sign reads 'Happiness is not far away' outside the IK-3 penal colony, where Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny served his sentence and where he died ( Image: ANATOLY MALTSEV/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock) In the middle of the room, a table and bench were bolted to the floor. The only personal items he was permitted to keep were a mug, toothbrush, towel and a pair of slippers, reports MailPlus. Kara Murza's morning sustenance would come in the form of a bowl of gloopy porridge and tea that was pushed through a metal hatch in the cell door. Later, he would be allowed a walk, lasting no longer than 90 minutes, which involved wandering around a courtyard of the same dimensions. Overhead, any view of the sky was covered with a metal grille. Another of the penal colonies Navalny served part of his sentence ( Image: AFP via Getty Images) At all times, Kara Murza was forced to keep his hands behind his back, even as temperatures plummet to as low as -25C. Even while carrying out the most mundane of daily tasks, surveillance cameras watched him and at 9am and 5pm, he was forced to strip naked as guards ran a metal detector over his clothes and underwear. And when guards addressed him, he was forced to identify himself in the official term, stating: "[I am] 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." Navalny is seen through video link from his cell in the IK-3 penal colony ( Image: AFP via Getty Images) Kara-Murza has become the highest-profile political prisoner in the Russian prison system following the death of Alexei Navalny, whose body was found in mysterious circumstances at a similar colony earlier this year. Both men were victims of suspected Novichok poisoning. Kara-Murza twice fell into a coma, in 2015 and 2017, which left him with a nerve disease called polyneuropathy -which causes the sufferers' legs to go numb. Like Navalny, he too could have decided to remain in political exile, even in
Britain due to his dual citizenship. But driven by the love of his country and defiance against Putin's hardened regime, he chose to return. He flew back to
Moscow just a month after
Russia invaded
Ukraine . The warlord had already made it an offence to call his "special
MILITARY operation" a war or conflict. Yet Kara-Murza bravely and defiantly branded it what it was, a war of aggression. Within a week, he was seized outside his Moscow home, charged with spreading "fake news", and put on trial for treason. His court appearance took place behind closed doors after the
Kremlin decided it included the dissemination of "state secrets". He was slapped with the longest term issued to any political prisoner in the country, 25 years.