Alexei Navalny’s health condition is worsening due to alleged “torture by sleep deprivation”
The legal team of Alexei Navalny, the biggest critic of Russian President – Vladimir Putin’s has alleged that Navalny is suffering from acute back pain which has affected his ability to walk.
Moreover, he is being woken up by a guard every hour during the night which has led to ‘sleep deprivation torture’. Alexei Navalny is presently imprisoned in Penal Colony No. 2 in the town of Pokrov.
Taking it to twitter, Navalny’s lawyer – Vadim Kobvez tweeted (Translated from Russian), “Finally we got to Navalny. The situation is as follows. He is not just not being treated, but a deliberate strategy is underway to undermine his health.” Original tweet in Russian:
Попали, наконец, к Навальному. Ситуация следующая. Его не просто не лечат, а идет сознательная стратегия на подрыв его здоровья.
— Вадим Кобзев (@advokatkobzev) March 25, 2021
He further tweeted (Translated from Russian), “For 4 weeks, he daily complained of acute back pain and demonstratively did not receive any medical assistance.” Original tweet in Russian:
В течении 4-х недель он ежедневно жаловался на острую боль в спине и никакой медпомощи демонстративно не получал.
— Вадим Кобзев (@advokatkobzev) March 25, 2021
He also tweeted (Translated from Russian), “All this, naturally, led to the fact that a complication began and now he has loss of sensitivity in his right leg, sharp pains, the leg stops obeying and at such a rate he will need crutches.” (Original tweet in Russian:
Все это, естественно, привело к тому, что началось осложнение и сейчас у него потеря чувствительности правой ноги, острые боли, нога перестает слушаться и такими темпами ему понадобятся костыли.
— Вадим Кобзев (@advokatkobzev) March 25, 2021
However, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), the federal authority for the detention of suspected and convicted persons, the security and maintenance of prisons in Russia, the transport of prisoners, and rehabilitation programs, has said that Navalny and other inmates have been given medical examinations at the inmates’ request.
Kobzev said that a prison Neurologist examined Navalny but the diagnosis and results of the examination are still unknown. No indication has been given of what caused Navalny’s back pain. Kobzev said that Navalny is being given 2 tablets of Ibuprofen a day, which, of course, is a clear mockery.
Navalny has given 2 applications asking for the doctor of his choice and an end to the practice of waking him repeatedly at night. In his requests, Navalny said his condition had worsened and that severe pain has spread to right leg which has lost sensation from the calf downwards. He says it is a classical development of a disease associated with a pinched nerve in the absence of proper treatment.
Navalny wrote in his application, “I consider the deterioration of my health to be the direct consequence of the actions and inaction of employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service deliberately aimed at denying me proper medical care and undermining my health.”
Navalny’s Wife – Yulia Navalnaya, also made a direct plea to Vladimir Putin demanding her husband’s immediate release. However, her plea was dismissed by Kremlin.
Speaking on the occasion, the Spokesperson for Kremlin – Dmitry Peskov said, “We will not respond to this appeal. “Now when this citizen is a convict and a prisoner of a colony, the addressee for such appeals is the Federal Penitentiary Service.”
Navalny was arrested in January 2021 from the Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, immediately after he arrived from Germany. He had returned after a period of 5 months, after getting treated in Germany for alleged poisoning with a chemical nerve agent from Novichok group, which he said was given to him on the orders of Putin. His detention has led to mass unrest with police taking to streets and clashing with police.
Later, the District Court in Moscow had sentenced Alexei Navalny to two and a half years in prison. The Court ruled that while Navalny was in Germany, he violated the probation terms from a 2014 case in which he had received a suspended sentence of three and a half years. The Court observed that suspended sentence will now be replaced with a prison term. The judge took into account the 11 months Navalny had already spent under house arrest as part of the decision. The case goes back to 2014 when Navalny was found guilty of fraud after he and his brother Oleg were accused of stealing 30 million Rubles (U.S. $ 540,000) from a Russian subsidiary of French cosmetics company – Yves Rocher. While Navalny was given a suspended sentence, his brother was jailed.
