Igor Rudnikov News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Since his arrest on charges of espionage just over a month ago, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been held in Russia’s most notorious prison, Lefortovo, located in a leafy residential district of Moscow.   Its impenetrable walls once muffled the cries of Soviet-era political prisoners tortured and executed by security officers during Stalin’s purges.  While bullets no longer fly in Lefortovo’s holding cells, the prison’s central role in Russia’s system of political repression has remained unchanged.  “Lefortovo is famous for putting maximum psychological pressu...

The Russian 'fortress' where US journalist is held

"It's a frozen prison, they're isolating you as much as possible from the outside world and from other prisoners, apart from your cellmate," said Igor Rudnikov, a former detainee and journalist.

Inside Lefortovo prison, inmates are not permitted to see or speak with anyone other than their assigned cellmate. The FSB security service designed the detention facility, which has housed a long list of high-profile figures, to keep detainees in near-total isolation

US journalist Evan Gershkovich's court appearance in Moscow on Tuesday will be a rare break from his isolation in Lefortovo prison -- a symbol of repression