MOSCOW — An ally of imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny stated on Monday she was braced for problem on the health of the hunger-striking opposition political leader when his attorneys see him once again, after they were kept away over the weekend.
Navalny, a popular challenger of Russian President Vladimir Putin, began declining food on March 31 in demonstration at what he stated was the rejection of jail authorities to offer him with sufficient treatment for severe leg and neck and back pain.
“We don’t know what happened to him over the weekend because the lawyers aren’t allowed to visit him then. I hope we will get some news today but I’m very afraid to receive bad news,” his ally, Lyubov Sobol, informed Ekho Moskvy radio station.
“I think there is no hope we will receive good news about his health today. I think his state is really very close to critical, close to being very grave. Twenty days on hunger strike — that is an awful lot.”
Navalny’s allies stated at the weekend his life was hanging by a thread, and revealed prepare for what they hope will be the biggest demonstrations in modern-day Russian history on Wednesday.
The fate of 44-year-old Navalny is contributing to currently serious pressures in Russia’s ties with the West. U.S. President Joe Biden’s nationwide security consultant Jake Sullivan stated on Sunday that the federal government had actually informed Russia “there will be consequences” if Navalny passes away in jail.
European Union foreign ministers are anticipated to go over the Navalny case on Monday. Josep Borrell, the bloc’s leading diplomat, explained his circumstance as “very worrisome” and stated Russia should offer treatment.
“We make the Russian authorities responsible for the health situation of Mr Navalny,” Borrell stated in a video declaration.
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A medical trade union with ties to Navalny stated on Saturday he remained in a crucial condition, pointing out medical tests which it stated revealed that Navalny’s kidneys might quickly stop working, which might cause heart attack.
A local opposition political leader, Lev Shlosberg, stated on Facebook that more than 20,000 individuals had actually signed an online petition requiring “access for competent doctors to Alexei Navalny and the release of all political prisoners in Russia.”
Navalny has actually stated jail authorities are threatening to put him in a straitjacket to force-feed him. Russian authorities implicate him of overemphasizing his medical condition to get attention, and of declining jail treatment. They have actually promised to guarantee he endures.
Navalny took a trip to Germany last August for treatment after being poisoned by a nerve representative in an attack he blamed on Putin.
The Kremlin has stated it has actually seen no proof he was poisoned and has actually rejected any Russian function if he was.
He was jailed in January when he went back to Russia and imprisoned for two-and-a-half years in February for parole offenses he stated were made.
