City rejects replica of Putin critic Navalny’s cell as ‘too political’
THE City of London has turned down a plan to erect a replica of the cell used to hold Russian dissident Alexey Navalny amid fears it could compromise its “political neutrality”.
The art installation, proposed by human rights campaigners Lester Partners, has previously been shown in Berlin and Paris and features a four-tonne metal and cement box matching the size of the 2.9m-high solitary cell — known as a “shizo” or punishment cell — used to hold the Russian politician.
They wanted to place it near St Paul’s Cathedral for a couple of weeks this month but members of the City corporation’s culture, heritage and libraries committee vetoed the application this week after council officers recommended they “reject due to political nature of the installation and insufficient time to gain planning permissions or consult with highways”. A report prepared for the meeting said the choice of location by the cathedral “would make the potential application more challenging” and added its recommendation to refuse “takes into account planning matters, CoLC’s political neutrality and additionally, the practicability of the timeline in question”.
It also concluded that “due to the political nature, there may be reputational risk in relation to the Lester Partners shizo application”.
Navalny is serving 11-anda-half years in prison on charges ranging from fraud to contempt of court which his supporters say have been trumped up to silence his criticism of Putin. His supporters claim the regime has put him in solitary confinement 16 times in the last nine months. They said: “Shizos are the harshest punishment in the legal prison hierarchy.”
The City of London Corporation said: “We have advised them to approach several London boroughs who may be able to host the installation.”