Alexei Navalny compares prison routine to that of Star Wars’ ‘stormtrooper’

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has compared his daily routine in prison to that of a ‘stormtrooper’ in Star Wars. The 44-year-old opposition politician is serving a two-and-a-half-year jail term in a penal colony outside Russian capital Moscow.

He took to Instagram on Monday to share two parts of his early morning routine and said he “adores” them. Navalny wrote that prisoners are awakened at 6 am following which they are taken to the prison yard where they prepare for morning exercises by listening to the Russian national anthem over loudspeakers and a voice that yells: “All hail our free Fatherland!”

They then begin marching in place, a part of the routine Navalny wrote that, at his suggestion, “everyone in my squadron is calling ‘The Empire Strikes Back'”.

“At this moment, I imagine that I’m filming a Russian remake of Star Wars, where instead of imperial stormtroopers there are prisoners in pea jackets and hats with earflaps,” Navalny said.

“Defending the interests of the Emperor, space prisoners travel from planet to planet, suppressing the rebels. But wherever they are, at exactly 6:05 am they listen to the anthem, at 6:10 am they do exercises,” he added.

The Kremlin critic was hospitalised in Germany in August last year after he was allegedly poisoned with a nerve agent. Navalny returned to Moscow in mid-January and was immediately detained by authorities on charges of violating parole while abroad. He was sentenced to jail time in February.