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TODAY IN FRANCE

‘Like an animal’: replica of Navalny’s cell set up in Paris

A small concrete box marked with the word SHIZO (punishment cell in Russian) in giant red letters sits incongruously next to a 13th-century church just behind the Louvre museum in Paris.

Published: 15 March 2023 09:14 CET
'Like an animal': replica of Navalny's cell set up in Paris
The installation mock-up of the punishment cell of imprisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny in Paris. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)

The grey box is a mock-up of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s punishment prison cell that his team unveiled in the French capital on Tuesday.

The leading opposition voice to Russian President Vladimir Putin is being guarded so closely that his team said they still did not know if the 46-year-old was aware a film about him got an Oscar.

Martine Fuguet, one of the visitors, said Navalny was being kept “in a cage like an animal”.

Vsevolod Tlelov, an opposition activist who fled Russia last year, said the installation represented “a different universe”.

“This is the life we don’t deserve.”

Navalny is serving a nine-year sentence on embezzlement and other charges that his supporters see as a punishment for him challenging the Kremlin.

His team set up the replica of his cell – “a prison inside a prison” – in Paris to raise awareness of the dire conditions he’s held in.

The installation mirrors a punishment cell where Navalny has spent more than a hundred days over the past six months.

Inside the dimly lit box is a little sink, a toilet on the ground and a simple bed, which is folded away during the day.

Supporters scribbled messages of support on the outer side of the box including “Navalny out, Putin in!”

‘I think he knows’
Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said it was not clear if Russia’s top opposition figure knew that a film examining his poisoning had won the Oscar for best documentary feature on Sunday.

“I think he knows,” Yarmysh told AFP on the sidelines of the ceremony. One of his lawyers was able to tell him the news during a recent court hearing, she added. “We know that he had heard something,” she said.

Navalny told the lawyer “he was grateful,” Yarmysh added.

She said maintaining contact with Navalny was hard, adding he was being denied medical treatment.

Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-made nerve agent, in 2020. He barely survived, and accused Putin of being behind the attack.

Ivan Zhdanov, head of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Fund, said it was important to raise awareness of the “monstrous” conditions Navalny was being held in.

“If Alexei becomes free, Putin will not be in power,” he added.

The installation arrived from Germany and will remain in Paris for two weeks. It is open to the public day and night.

AFP

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LIVING IN FRANCE

Why you might get a letter about French benefits

France is introducing stricter residency requirements for certain benefits, including those that foreigners in France can qualify for, and has begun sending letters out to recipients.

Published: 30 April 2024 14:07 CEST
Why you might get a letter about French benefits

In April, the French government passed a decree that will tighten up residency requirements for different types of benefits, including the old-age top-up benefit.

Previously, the rule for most benefits was residency in France for at least six months of the previous year to qualify, though some required eight months and others, like the RSA (a top-up for people with little to no income) requires nine months’ residency per year.

However, the government announced in 2023 its intention to increase the period to nine months for several different programmes – which was put into decree in April – in an effort to combat social security fraud, as well as to standardise the system.

The changes, which will go into effect at the start of 2025, do not affect access to healthcare – foreigners can still access French public healthcare as long as they have been resident here for a minimum of three months. 

Similarly, the rules for accessing chômage (unemployment benefits) have not changed yet. Currently, you must have worked for at least six months out of the last 24 months to be eligible, as well as meeting other criteria including how you left your previous job.

This may change in the future, however, with the French government poised to reform the unemployment system again.

READ MORE: How France plans cuts to its generous unemployment system

Which benefits are affected?

The old-age benefit – or the ASPA – will apply the new nine month requirement. Previously, people needed to be in France for at least six months out of the year to qualify.

If you receive this benefit already, you will probably get a letter in the mail in the near future informing you of the change – this is a form letter and does not necessarily mean that your benefits will change.

If you are already a recipient – and you live in France for at least nine months out of the year – then you do not need to worry about your access to the ASPA changing.

If you want to access this benefit, it is available to certain foreigners, even though it is intended to help elderly (over 65) French citizens with low state pensions.

It is only available to foreigners who have been living legally in France for at least 10 years, and starting in 2025 you will need to spend nine out of 12 months a year in France. You can find more information at THIS French government website.

Otherwise, prestations familiales, or family benefits will be affected by the new nine month residency rule. These are available to foreigners with valid residency cards, as long as their children also live in France.

This includes the family allowance (given out by CAF), which is available for families on low incomes with more than two children, as well as the ‘Prime à la Naissance’, which is a means-tested one-off allowance paid in the seventh month of pregnancy to effectively help with the start-up costs of becoming a parent, will also be affected by the new nine month residency rule. 

READ MORE: France’s family benefit system explained

If you receive these benefits already, then you will likely receive a letter explaining the changes shortly.

And finally – the RSA, which is the top-up benefit for people with little to no income, was already held to the nine month standard, so there will be no residency-related changes.

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