I’m like that monkey covering its mouth, eyes, and ears. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Only in my case, the paws aren’t mine—they’re Putin’s. You may remember the things I’ve been systematically forbidden from doing: meeting with my lawyer confidentially; meeting with my lawyer in any normal way at all; receiving any documents; looking at any documents. And now, at the entrance to the penal colony, they took absolutely every paper my lawyer was carrying, saying that from now on the colony administration would decide what is related to the criminal case and what is not. Accordingly, what may be read out to me and what may not. So at this very moment my lawyer is sitting in our meeting with nothing but a blank sheet of paper and a pen. And I—through the cloudy glass opposite him—also have nothing but a blank sheet of paper and a pen. Great defense. We could discuss the weather, for example. So, just when I thought I’d hit absolute rock bottom, there was a knock from below and they informed me: “From now on, we are forbidding you even to LISTEN to what is written in any documents.” I have a feeling my next post will be about being brought to a meeting with my lawyer tied up, with my mouth taped shut. Though I’m not sure how I’ll dictate that one. I could learn Morse code, but I can’t quite imagine how to bang my head against the wall to make a dash 😉