Help us tell the truth about Putin's main enemy

Help us to tell the truth about the main political prisoner - Alexei Navalny.

By the order of Putin, his main political opponent, Alexei Navalny, is being held in tortured conditions in a Russian prison. To tell everyone about this, we created a visual installation called "SHIZO". A model of the cell in which Alexei now spends most of his life.

The SHIZO (a punishment cell) — is a 2.5 by 3-meter stone bag without ventilation, with a tiny window and an iron bunk, on which you can't sit during the day. The water in the sink is cold, dirty and unusable for drinking, and there is a hole in the floor instead of a toilet. Fifteen days in this cell is the harshest punishment provided in a Russian penal colony. Navalny has already spent 180 days there almost without a break.

In order to clearly show these torture conditions to people who have never been to a Russian prison, we created a model of the punishment cell in which Alexei Navalny is imprisoned. We transport it and set it up in city squares, showing it to everyone who wants to see it. The SHIZO installation has already visited Germany - Berlin and Dusseldorf, France - Paris, the Netherlands - The Hague, the Czech Republic - Prague, and Switzerland - Geneva.

Why is this important?

By visiting our model of the SHIZO, people can feel what it is like to live in such a concrete box day after day. Navalny's jailers are trying to break his spirit at Putin's behest. But Alexei maintains his composure and even his sense of humor under these difficult conditions. Looking around the SHIZO, one can imagine how cruel and unjust Putin's dictatorial regime is, sending us back to the worst pages of history. After all, the SHIZO is a symbol. A symbol of Putin's brutality and Alexei Navalny's personal struggle for his freedom, for his country and for the world. We believe that by talking about Navalny, by bringing together his supporters, we are helping to fight Putin. Not allowing us to forget what is now happening to the world's foremost political prisoner.

And we need your support.

Who are we?

We are the team behind Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader and champion of democracy who has gained the status of Putin’s main enemy during his years of fighting against the criminal regime. In 2011, Navalny founded the Anti-Corruption Foundation with the firm belief that corruption is at the root of most Russian and global problems. Since then, we have released hundreds of investigative reports on corrupt officials in Putin’s government, the most important of which, a film about the palace owned by Vladimir Putin himself, has amassed over 120 million views on YouTube. Releases of our most high-profile investigations were accompanied by protest rallies all across Russia.

With each passing year, the pressure on us kept growing. Our office was regularly raided. At first, we were subjected to administrative proceedings, then criminal proceedings started. Some of our employees are now in prison, others had to emigrate to escape persecution. Our organization has been declared extremist, key staff members have been placed on a list of extremists and terrorists. Alexei Navalny survived an assassination attempt in 2020 — Putin sent a special FSB unit armed with chemical weapons to kill Alexei (no, this is not the plot of a Bond movie!). When the attempt failed and Navalny returned to Russia, Putin jailed him on a trumped-up case. And after the war had already begun, Alexei’s prison sentence was extended by another nine and a half years. None of this, however, has made us stop our operations. This year, the Anti-Corruption Foundation went global. We set up a new organization in the US jurisdiction to fight the export of Putin's corruption abroad.

During our years of transparent work, we have proven that we cannot be controlled by the Kremlin. And our main goal remains the same: to expose the truth, educate the Russian people and demand an end to political autocracy and oligarchy.

What will your money go towards?

We want to tell the whole world about Alexei Navalny. So that even more people will help us fight against Putin, against war and for freedom. Our installation "SHIZO" attracts a lot of attention in every city where it appears. That's why we're ready to bring it anywhere.

However, it is not cheap to transport such a large structure and keep it in place. That's why we're announcing a fundraiser. So that even more cities will see the SHIZO in person. This includes the cost of transportation, possible repairs to the structure, as well as a very modest payment for lodging and food for the staff and helpers who organize everything and are on duty day and night. We also want to print flyers and other campaign materials. The more money we can raise, the more trips and new places we can get! Perhaps SHIZO will come to your country and even your city!

Putin hid Navalny in jail, dreaming that everyone would forget about him. We can't allow that to happen. Let's tell the world about the main political prisoner of our time!