Extract from ABC News
Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in failing health because of a new suspected poisoning and is back in a punishment cell after a few days in regular confinement, a spokeswoman said.
Key points:
- Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and his lawyers have alleged repeated poisoning while in prison
- He survived a near-fatal nerve agent poisoning in 2020 which he attributed to the Kremlin
- Mr Navalny has routinely been kept in punitive solitary confinement while in prison
Anna Veduta, a Washington DC-based vice president of Mr Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, told The Associated Press the 46-year-old fell ill last Friday when he was released from a punishment cell and put in a conventional cell.
He allegedly lost about 8 kilograms over the past 15 days.
"We believe he is slowly being administered low doses of poison" in pills he is given without identification, Ms Veduta said.
On Monday, Mr Navalny wrote on Twitter, he was put back in a punishment cell for another 15-day stint.
An ambulance was called early on Saturday because of acute stomach pains but Mr Navalny received no diagnosis, lawyer Vadim Kobzev wrote on Twitter after visiting him in prison.
A video documentary about Mr Navalny won an Oscar last month.
The documentary portrays Mr Navalny's career of fighting official corruption, his near-fatal poisoning with a nerve agent in 2020 that he blames on the Kremlin, his five-month recuperation in Germany and his 2021 return to Moscow, where he was taken into custody.
He was later sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison, and last year was convicted of other charges and given another 9-year term.
Mr Navalny has faced unrelenting pressure from Russian authorities and has been in and out of isolation in a tiny punishment cell.
He is allowed to write letters or have his lawyers visit occasionally.
AP/ABC
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