Chita journalist Nika Novak, sentenced to four years for "confidential cooperation with a foreign organization", complained about torturous conditions in IK-11 in the Irkutsk region and declared a hunger strike, writes SotaVision*. Novak reported this at a hearing on contesting her placement on the professional register as "prone to terrorism".
Novak complained that she was placed in solitary confinement for refusing to tell the media about the "good conditions" in the colony, as well as for refusing to work as a seamstress since she had not been trained in this profession. After being placed in strict conditions (SUS), Novak stopped receiving letters.
Novak is held in a cell with an aggressive woman who attacked her, and colony staff provoke her into violations and crimes, threatening new criminal charges.
In court, lawyer Vasily Dubkov pointed out that the article under which she was convicted is unrelated to terrorism, and Novak was not preparing any crime. A representative of the FSIN stated that there were grounds for her registration—the colony administration received "secret operational information" about this. The court refused to remove the prisoner from the professional register.
Previously, Novak had already declared a hunger strike due to the actions of the IK-11 administration. As noted by the project "First Department"*, this colony has a reputation as one of the most closed and brutal.
* Recognized in Russia as "foreign agents".