US expressed concern over deteriorating prison health of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny

The US government expressed concern on Wednesday over reports of a deterioration in the state of health of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison.

“We are concerned about reports that Mr Navalny’s health is deteriorating.”White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, adding that Washington views the opposition’s imprisonment as “politically motivated and a great injustice.”

Navalny, 44, continues with cough and fever, according to his lawyer, Olga Mijailova, announced Wednesday after a visit to the center where he is still imprisoned.

“As for his health, the day before yesterday he had a fever of 39, yesterday the temperature remained at a level of 38 and today it oscillates between 37 and 37.2 degrees, at the same time he is coughing,” said the lawyer, who also detailed that Navalny is still in pain back and leg pain, according to the Russian news agency Sputnik.

“Of course, he is exhausted because he continues his hunger strike and drinks only water. Of course, the conditions are very difficult, but it holds up “, Mijailova qualified.

A group of doctors who had gone to the prison where Navalny is, on hunger strike for a few days to denounce their situation and ask to see an external doctor, warned on Tuesday that the authorities had prevented them from accessing him, despite his state of health. would have worsened in recent days. His surroundings had already argued that the opponent has severe back problems, a paralyzed leg, fever and cough.

“He looks bad and he doesn’t feel good. No one intends to cure him “, told the agency AFP Mijailova, specifying that the opponent now weighs 80 kg, five less than at the start of the hunger strike; while when he arrived at the prison camp in March, he weighed 93 kg.

Another of his lawyers, Vadim Kobzev, said on Twitter that the opponent lost “a kilo a day” and that he felt pain when walking. “The disease clearly progresses in terms of loss of sensation in the legs (…), in the hands”, wrote.

Navalny’s allies and relatives demand that he be transferred to a hospital.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, has denied any discriminatory treatment of Navalny. “If it is a disease, the treatment will be provided at the appropriate level,” Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Navalny, who in August 2020 survived a poisoning he blamed on the government of Vladimir Putin, was arrested on his return to Moscow in January and forced to serve his sentence for fraud in 2014. La justice understood that he had violated the conditions of his probation.

With information from AFP and EuropaPress

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