Vladimir Putin’s critic was diagnosed with two herniated discs and his health is getting worse, says his lawyer.
Photo: REUTERS / Courtesy
Monday, November 18
Alexei Navalny “is losing sensation in his legs and hands”: the deterioration of the health of Putin's main opponent in prison
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s health is deteriorating and he is beginning to lose sensation in his legs and hands, said his lawyer.
Vadim Kobzev said Navalny, who is in prison after Russian justice in February forced him to serve a prison sentence for embezzlement suspended since 2014, was diagnosed with two herniated discs .
Last week he started a hunger strike to demand adequate treatment for pain sharp in the back and legs.
The White House indicated that reports that his health was deteriorating are worrisome.
Kobzev, who visited Navalny on Wednesday, wrote on Twitter (in Russian): “Alexei walks by himself. You feel pain when you walk. It is very worrying that the disease is clearly progressing in terms of loss of sensation in the legs, palms and wrists. ”
Earlier this week, Navalny, from 44 years, he was transferred to the prison infirmary in the city of Pokrov with symptoms of a respiratory disease.
She had complained of a persistent cough and fever.
Her temperature was fluctuating and on Wednesday it dropped to 37 ° C after reaching 39 ° C on Monday, according to the lawyer, who added that Navalny was losing 1 kg a day due to a hunger strike.
In a Instagram post, Navalny noted that prison authorities were trying to undermine his hunger strike by roasting chicken near him and placing candy in his clothing pockets.
Also on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated that the Joe Biden administration viewed Navalny’s imprisonment as “politically motivated and grossly unjust” and called for his immediate release.
Earlier, the human rights group Amnesty International said that Navalny had been imprisoned in conditions that amount to torture and could be “slowly killing him.”
Activists say the prison is known for its especially harsh conditions.
Navalny’s lawyers, who have visited him in custody , point out that there are no doctors in the prison and that the medical unit at the scene is run by a single paramedic.
Last week, Russia’s prison service denied Navalny’s allegations that he was not receiving adequate treatment and said that he had been provided “all necessary medical assistance in accordance with his medical indications.”
But on Monday the lawyer indicated that recently up to three people from the unit were taken to the hospital with tuberculosis, a claim that the Russian prison service denied.
Navalny received a suspended sentence for embezzlement in 2014, a sentence that is considered that is politically motivated.
He was transferred by plane to Germany for treatment after being poisoned in Siberia with the nerve agent Novichok.
When he returned to Russia in January, he was immediately arrested and jailed by a court for violating the probation terms of the suspended sentence while he was being treated in Germany.
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