""Think of all the things you need each day to brush your teeth, get dressed, eat," Julia said. "In prison, life goes on, but you don't get any money.""
""In the beginning, I even had to cut my fingernails with a piece of old razor blade,"Julia said. "After a while, people outside somehow became aware of my situation and I started to receive packages.""
""There are prisoners everyone has heard of, and they receive aid," she said. "But I write to the ones people haven't heard of.""
""Soap, toilet paper, towels, underwear," she said. "Sometimes they reply and say everything's fine and I should help people who really need it.""
Julia was incarcerated for several years as a political prisoner in Russia and initially received no outside support because she had no family. She lacked basic hygiene and personal items and improvised by cutting her fingernails with an old razor blade until packages began to arrive. Julia now collects basics and food for currently incarcerated dissidents and focuses on prisoners who receive little attention. Families of political prisoners frequently face difficult financial straits. Donations have decreased as prices rise in Russia. Relatives organize fundraisers on social media and legal costs are the largest expense; effective lawyers can change case outcomes, as in the case of Yevgeny Bestuzhev, who received a suspended sentence.
Read at www.dw.com
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