Alexei Navalny’s lawyer denounced Russian opposition leader lost sensitivity in his hands during hunger strike

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s health deteriorates as he goes on hunger strike in prisonhis lawyers said Wednesday. The administration of US President Joe Biden said it was “disturbed” by the information.

President Vladimir Putin’s main opponent, who is serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for alleged embezzlement, has gone on hunger strike to demand appropriate medical treatment for severe back pain and numbness in his legs.

Members of Navalny’s defense team, who visited him at his prison complex in the town of Pokrov, 100 kilometers east of Moscow, said that now he loses sensation in his hands and coughs while refusing to eat.

“It looks bad, it doesn’t feel good”lawyer Olga Mikhailova told the AFP, and added thathe Navalny now weighs “around 80” kilograms.

Navalny, who is 189 centimeters tall, weighed 93 kilograms when he arrived at his penal colony last month.

“No one is going to treat it”, agregó Mikhailova.

Navalny’s lawyers and allies are demanding that he be transferred to a “normal” hospital, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Navalny was not entitled to any special treatment.

Another member of the opposition political team, Vadim Kobzev, said Navalny, 44, was losing a kilogram a day.

– The “ disturbed ” White House –

On Twitter, Kobzev said that Navalny felt pain when walking and now felt numbness in his hands, in addition to back pain and loss of sensation in his legs.

“It is clear that his disease is getting worse.”

In Washington, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki said: “We are concerned about reports that Mr. Navalny’s health is deteriorating.”

Psaki added that Washington considers Navalny’s imprisonment “for political reasons and great injustice”.

Russia’s treatment of Navalny is one of the many sticking points between the new Biden administration and the Kremlin, along with concerns about Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, alleged interference in the U.S. election, and alleged rewards to the US troops in Afghanistan.

The harsh approach contrasts with that of the former president Donald Trump, who expressed his admiration for his Putin counterpart even as his administration added sanctions.

After the visit of his lawyers, Navalny posted a new Instagram post, claiming that prison officials put candy in his pockets and fry chicken to make fun of him.

He said authorities still refused to tell him about his diagnosis and did not allow a doctor of his choice to treat him.

– ‘Epic battle’ –

Navalny said tens of thousands of people, both inside and outside Russian prisons, “are literally dying without medical help” and the thought bolstered his resolve.

“They are not known, no one will defend them, no one will think of them, no one will challenge this deceptive and inhuman system on their behalf”, Navalny wrote.

Earlier this week, Navalny said he had a cough and fever and that three members of his prison unit had been hospitalized with tuberculosis.

Navalny was arrested in January after returning from Germany, where he spent months recovering from a poisoning attack with the nerve agent Novichok for which he blames the Kremlin.

He is serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for allegedly violating conditional sentence probation terms on previous fraud charges.

Human rights defenders say Pokrov prison is known for its particularly harsh conditions, and Navalny himself called it a “concentration camp”.

(With information from AFP)

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