September 06, 2023

Navalny, Lexiconvict


Navalny, Lexiconvict
Protest signs reading "#FreeNavalny." Liza Poor, Unsplash.

The Russian Supreme Court rejected Alexei Navalny's lawsuit contesting a ban on using prison slang within the Melekhovo penal institution, where he's imprisoned. Navalny risked solitary confinement for using the vernacular.

Navalny's request for a list of prohibited terms was denied by prison authorities, leading to his highlighting an inconsistency: Despite widespread use of the same jargon within the facility, only he has faced repercussions. Initially, Federal Penitentiary Service officials denied the existence of such a list, but later admitted to a classified USSR document from 1983, prompting Navalny to take legal action.

In a Kovrov district court hearing, Navalny revealed that he faced the threat of solitary confinement for using terms such as balanda (referring to prison gruel), shkonka (a cell bunk), krysha (slang for protection), and zek (inmate).

Navalny highlighted the absurdity of prison slang restrictions by describing a hypothetical scenario of a Supreme Court justice stepping out of a sauna and exclaiming, “What a pleasure!” Technically, using the word kayf (pleasure) would be a prison violation since it is on the Ministry of Justice's list as slang for drug use. He argued that the word has become a part of everyday Russian even aside from drug-related connotations. Navalny also pointed out that terms like sledak (investigator) and terpila (victim), once associated with criminals, have now become accepted jargon in professional settings.

Supreme Court Justice Kirillov dismissed Navalny's lawsuit to reconsider the ban on prison slang, affirming that the prohibition on using terms from the "criminal environment" will remain unchanged.

You Might Also Like

Cruel and Unusual
  • August 06, 2023

Cruel and Unusual

The regime is hell-bent on silencing and slowly murdering Alexei Navalny. Here is his Last Word after his trumped up conviction last week.
Navalny Launches Antiwar Campaign
  • June 21, 2023

Navalny Launches Antiwar Campaign

Politician and political prisoner Alexei Navaly is launching a "big propaganda machine" to counter Putin and pro-war propaganda.
The Hygiene Hindrance
  • March 31, 2023

The Hygiene Hindrance

As a strange form of punishment, Alexei Navalny was reportedly placed in a cell with a prisoner who has bad hygiene. 
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955