Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, Aleksei Navalny, is going through a major health crisis in Jail. File Photo. Source: Twitter
Kremlin: Russian medical professionals have banded together to denounce Vladimir Putin for “abusing” a well-known political opposition figure who is deliberately kept confined in jail despite severely deteriorating health.
In a plea, more than 200 medical professionals have expressed their “grave concern” for Aleksei Navalny’s health and their inability to stand by and watch him worsen.
Given the crackdown on free expression in the nation after the invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s opposition seems surprising.
In March, a Russian court found Mr. Navalny guilty of extensive fraud and contempt and sentenced him to nine years in prison. His defence was not guilty.
He had further claimed that he was sent to solitary confinement ten times in a year was because he cleaned his face 30 minutes earlier than the prison timetable permitted.
According to his attorneys, Navalny who is Putin’s no.1 political rival got sick after he was forced to share a cell with someone who had dangerous flu and was previously admitted in the prison’s medical unit along with other patients.
In the letter, the doctors expressed their deep concern for Aleksei Navalny’s life and health, stating that it is obvious from a medical standpoint that he is not getting enough medical attention.
Legal counsel for Mr. Navalny has cautioned that he requires medicine since he is reportedly experiencing chills, a fever, and coughing fits.
They claim he has to be assessed by medical professionals from outside the penal colony and, if required, transferred to a regular hospital for treatment.
Navalny, who is the head of the Russia of the Future party, has regularly pushed back against Putin by planning protests against the administration and exposing fraud.
He was admitted to the hospital in a critical state in September 2020 after ingesting a deadly agent called Novichok.
American intelligence services had blamed Russian security police officers for the attempt on his life.
Navalny was detained in Germany in January 2021 on suspicion of breaking parole restrictions that had been placed on him following an alleged embezzlement conviction in 2014.
When authorities accused him of stealing money from his supporters last year, he had already served a two-and-a-half-year sentence. Then he received a further nine years in jail.
The lawmaker previously referred to United Russia, the country’s ruling party, as a “party of criminals and thieves” and dismissed criminal accusations brought against him as being politically motivated.
After the most recent court session, he posted on Instagram, saying: “If the 113-year request is the price of my human right to express things that need to be said, then they can ask for 113 years.” I won’t back down from my comments or conduct.
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