Alexei Navalny has had his sarcastic demands to Russian prison administrators of a pet kangaroo, a balalaika, and a bottle of moonshine liquor denied.
The list of outlandish requests included a megaphone for a prisoner in a nearby cell “so he can yell even louder”, a massage chair and an award of the highest rank in karate for an inmate who “killed a man with his bare hands”.
Navalny, a critic of Vladimir Putin, released his exchanges with the prison administration on Twitter, and explained how it gave him some “entertainment”.
Mr Navalny wrote: “When you are sitting in a punishment isolation cell and have little entertainment, you can have fun with correspondence with the administration.”
He is currently in a maximum-security penal colony at Melekhovo, about 115 miles east of Moscow.
The 46-year-old expressed mock outrage at not being allowed to keep a kangaroo in his cell.
His Twitter post read: “Here is the most important and egregious thing. I just can’t let this pass… I will continue to fight for my inalienable right to have a kangaroo.”
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In March last year, the outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin and the Ukraine war was sentenced to nine years in prison after he was found guilty of large-scale fraud and contempt of court.
Mr Navalny reportedly lost 8kg in just over two weeks whilst in jail and was apparently struggling with a mystery ailment due to claims of being poisoned.
He previously suffered a novichok nerve-agent poisoning before his prison sentence, which he blamed on the Kremlin.
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He also said that he is being investigated on terrorism charges that could see him sentenced to 30 years in prison, which his aides have branded as “absurd allegations”.
Mr Navalny will turn 47 on 4 June and to mark his birthday, his team has called for rallies across Russia and elsewhere.
