If you saw me now, you’d laugh. A skeleton staggers around the cell. In its hands is a court order rolled into a paper tube. With that order, the skeleton desperately swats mosquitoes sitting on the walls and ceiling. These buzzing, biting creatures will finish a person off faster than any hunger strike. You really could use me now to scare children who refuse to eat. - Masha, if you don’t eat your porridge, you’ll end up like that man over there with the huge ears, a skull stretched tight with skin, and sunken eyes.
 - No, Mom! No! I’ll eat everything and ask for seconds!
 And yet life still gives you wonderful moments, the kind that make you happy and laugh. This weekend, to be honest, was rough. I was hospitalized in the prison infirmary at another penal colony. And that means hours-long searches. Then transport — you rattle around in an iron box. Then another search. Take off your shoes, squat down, show the soles of your feet, open your mouth. You sit in the cell, not really understanding where you are. You do the most important thing a prisoner can do: drive away thoughts of loneliness. You remember the main thing, don’t you? Villains and scoundrels desperately want you to feel alone. But then last night my lawyer managed to get through to me for literally five minutes and told me about your enormous support. In Russia and all over the world. That moment was worth a great deal. And I laughed when I read quotations from medical luminaries saying that with potassium levels like the ones in my test results, I ought to be either in intensive care or in a coffin. No chance — I’m not that easy to take down. After Novichok (a Soviet-developed nerve agent), potassium doesn’t scare me. Thank you so much. There are many people like me, who have nothing but a mug of water, hope, and faith in their convictions. In Russia and around the world. In prisons, and outside them too. It is incredibly important for them to feel your support and solidarity. It may seem like very little, and not difficult at all. But there is no better weapon against injustice and lawlessness. That alone is what keeps us living and surviving. Despite the high potassium level 😉