Navalny went on hunger strike as he was not given proper medical treatment for his acute back and leg pain
The authorities at prison in Penal Colony No. 2 in the town of Pokrov, Russia, where Kremlin critic – Alexei Navalny is kept, are threatening to force feed him to end his hunger strike.
Navalny started his hunger strike at end of March 2021. He has lost 15 kgs since he arrived at the facility. He went on hunger strike as he was not given proper medical treatment for his acute back and leg pain.
A tweet from the official twitter account of Navalny, which is manged by his allies, read (translated from Russian), “Current about Navalny’s hunger strike: his weight is 77 kg (-8 kg from the beginning of the hunger strike, -15 kg from the moment of arrival at the colony), pressure 94/76, average pulse 106.” Original tweet in Russian:
Текущее о голодовке Навального: его вес 77 кг (-8 кг с начала голодовки, -15 кг с момента приезда в колонию), давление 94/76, средний пульс 106.
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) April 12, 2021
However, the prison authorities said they offered him proper medical treatment but Navalny refused it and asked for a doctor of his choice, which is outside the prison facility. This request was denied by the prison authorities. Navalny was shifted to prison clinic after he complained of high temperature and bad cough.
Another tweet read (translated from Russian), “Seeing the severity of the hunger strike, the administration threatens to force-feed them every day. At the same time, Alexei was transferred back from the medical unit to the detachment. The doctor is not allowed to see him.” (Original tweet in Russian:
Видя серьезность голодовки, администрация ежедневно угрожает начать принудительное кормление. При этом Алексея перевели обратно из медчасти в отряд. Врача к нему так и не пускают.
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) April 12, 2021
Earlier, Navalny had also complained of ‘sleep deprivation torture for being woken up by a guard every hour during the night. The prison authorities have denied all the charges and said that his progress is satisfactory and that he has been given all the necessary treatment.
A United States (U.S.) based daily, ‘Washington Post’ published an article which stated that President of Russia – Vladimir Putin is slowly and slowly trying to murder his biggest critic.
Navalny was arrested in January 2021 at the Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, immediately after he returned from Germany. He had returned after a period of 5 months, completing his treatment in Germany for alleged poisoning with a chemical nerve agent from Novichok Group. Navalny claims he was poisoned on the instructions of the President of Russia – Vladimir Putin.
Further to this, a District Court in Moscow 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.
