Do you know what turned out to be the most important thing at the first stage of a prison hunger strike? Checking your pockets. ⠀ They slip candy into them. The first piece was found during a search, followed immediately by ironic smiles: And what’s this you’ve got there, Alexei Anatolyevich, a candy? ⠀ Since then, before putting on any item of clothing that has been left unattended, I search it and throw out any candy 🤷‍♂️ ⠀ Of course, I knew the authorities would first try to discredit the hunger strike and make fun of it. The only surprising thing is how primitive their approach is. ⠀ It was absolutely the right decision, from day one of the hunger strike, never to go into the kitchen without an officer carrying a switched-on body camera. You can only get water in the kitchen. I go in, drink from the “drinking water tank,” they film me while I do it, and I leave. And I never go near any bags when I’m alone. ⠀ So when reports appeared across all Kremlin-controlled media channels saying, “Navalny secretly eats cookies,” both the inmates and even the staff said: what a lie. ⠀ Everyone can see that mine is a 100% hardcore prison hunger strike. No tricks like sweet tea, salted water, juice, vitamins, etc. Just water. ⠀ And here’s a story for you: I was talking to my lawyer the other day. He said: they usually place someone next to a person on hunger strike and feed him loads of chicken, so he can fry it and eat it right in front of the protester. I laughed: no, that’s too much, and impossible here in principle. Cooking in the kitchen is forbidden, and there’s nothing to cook on. There’s only a kettle. And chicken is completely banned. You can neither buy it nor receive it in a care package. ⠀ And what do you think? Two days later I go into the kitchen for a drink, and there’s a cheerful “orderly” standing there frying chicken! They brought in a hot plate! Then they started frying bread and something else. And now it goes on all day long. All the rules and regulations have been canceled. A feast and liberalization! ⠀ I smirked and thought this must be some kind of instruction they’d been given. But then I thought some more and realized: no, it’s simply what they truly believe in. The essence of this regime. ⠀ No one will ever stand up for their principles and fight for their rights if there it is, right nearby: delicious fried chicken. ⠀ Continued in the carousel ➡️