Political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza is now free after spending more than two years – including 11 months in solitary confinement – in one of Russia’s “harshest prison regimes”.
He described his life in prison as “endless, meaningless and exactly the same,” similar to the movie Groundhog Day.
“Just a few weeks ago, I was absolutely certain I would die in Putin’s gulag,” he told The Washington Post on Wednesday.
Mr Kara-Murza, a Russian writer and activist, was one of 24 prisoners released on August 1 in the largest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since the Cold War.
Mr Kara-Murza, who is also a British citizen, was arrested in 2022 for his strong opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.
He was held in a correctional facility in Omsk, which he described as one of the harshest prisons in the country.
His day began at 5:00 a.m. local time in a small cell about 2 by 3 meters. Everything was scheduled: his meals, his walks, the time the lights went out. He spent most of his day staring at a wall.
“You just sit in your cell and do nothing,” he said.
He was given a pen and paper and allowed to write for 90 minutes every day.
“To someone whose profession is writing, as I am, I have to say that this is a particularly sadistic rule,” he said.
Mr. Kara-Murza was held in solitary confinement for 11 months. Under United Nations rules, solitary confinement is tantamount to torture if a person is held without human contact for more than 22 hours a day for at least 15 consecutive days.
He was not allowed to contact his family by telephone and spoke to his wife only once during the two years he was imprisoned.
“It’s really not easy when you’re completely deprived of any human contact,” he said.
To pass the time, Mr. Kara-Murza says he reads as much as he can and is learning Spanish.
He recalled that prisoners were regularly asked to indicate their release date, along with their name and cell number. His – which he will never forget – was April 21, 2047.
“Honestly, it really affects you,” he said of the repeated request.
Mr. Kara-Murza said three factors kept him from giving up while in prison: his Christian faith, his experience as a historian and the knowledge “that he was right.”
“This knowledge is really important because I knew I was right. I knew that the real criminals are those who are waging this aggressive and criminal war against Ukraine, not those of us who have publicly spoken out against it,” he said.
He described the two weeks since his release as “surreal.”
“What happened to us gives great hope to so many others who are still languishing in Putin’s gulag,” he said.
