Russian Dissident Alexei Navalny Could Be Days From Death In Prison
Popular Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny could be just days from death following mysterious pains and a hunger strike in a notorious prison, his supporters warned Saturday.
“Alexei is dying ... it’s a question of days,” Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, said on Facebook.
“It’s totally, totally unfair, and totally inappropriate,” President Joe Biden told reporters Saturday when asked about Navalny’s situation.
The head of a doctors alliance posted the results of Navalny’s blood tests on Twitter, saying they indicate kidney damage that could lead to heart failure, Bloomberg reported.
Navalny, 44, returned to his home country in January after he was treated in a German hospital for nerve-agent poisoning, believed by American intelligence to have been carried out by Russia’s Federal Security Service.
Navalny was immediately detained and sentenced to 30 months in the notorious IK-2 prison camp for breaking parole by pursuing medical treatment in Germany. Tens of thousands of Russians protested his imprisonment, leading to the arrest of some 11,000 supporters.
After he began suffering mysterious new leg and back pain behind bars that he feared may have been linked to his poisoning, he went on a hunger strike March 31 in a desperate bid to pressure officials to allow trustworthy medical care from outside the prison system and President Vladimir Putin’s control.
“What else could I do?” he wrote at one point. “I have declared a hunger strike demanding that they allow a visit by an invited doctor in compliance with the law.”
Russian prison officials have insisted that Navalny has received all necessary treatment.
Alexey @Navalny’s team is ringing the alarm bells today, saying that his health has deteriorated so much from an 18-day hunger strike that “he could die at any moment.” They are begging people not to be silent. pic.twitter.com/tgESvagzcW
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 17, 2021
Heartbreaking, from daughter of @navalny https://t.co/eHUDtfGop6
— Susan Glasser (@sbg1) April 18, 2021
Navalny's life is in Putin's hands right now. If Putin allows Navalny to die in prison, no believer in human rights -- no believer in right and wrong -- should ever meet with Putin again. Period.
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) April 18, 2021
"It is imperative that Dr. Vasilieva and her team of doctors be allowed to promptly examine Navalny and get him into intensive care if necessary.
If Navalny dies, there is no question who should be held responsible, and the cost will be high."https://t.co/hMzxQ8WrDI— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) April 18, 2021
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.