The state of health of the detained Russian oppositionist, Alexei Navalny, is deteriorating, with renewed poisoning being suspected, and he has returned to a punishment cell, a few days after being in regular confinement, a spokeswoman said today. .
Anna Veduta, who is based in Washington and is vice president of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, based in Navalny, told the Associated Press that the 46-year-old oppositionist fell ill last Friday when he left the punishment (isolation) cell and placed in a conventional cell.
In the last 15 days, Navalny lost more than eight kilos. On Monday, he announced via Twitter that he had been put back in a punishment cell for another 15 days.
An ambulance was called on Saturday for severe stomach pains, but Navalny had no diagnosis, one of his lawyers, Vadim Kobzev, wrote on Twitter after visiting him in prison.
“We believe they are slowly administering small doses of poison” in unmarked pills, Veduta said.
A video documentary about Navalny won an Oscar last month. The documentary chronicles Navalny’s career in fighting official corruption, his near-fatal poisoning in 2020, for which he blamed the Kremlin, his recovery over five months in Germany and his return to Moscow in 2021, when he was detained. He was later sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and last year he was the subject of further charges and sentenced to a further nine years in prison.
Navalny has come under relentless pressure from the Russian leadership, and has often been subject to isolation in a small punishment cell. He is authorized to write letters and have irregular visits from his lawyers.
*With Lusa
