Alexei Navalny has been on hunger strike for 19 days and his health is deteriorating rapidly: Russian opposition called new protest to demand his freedom

The Russian opposition announced this Sunday protests in several Russian cities on April 21 in support of Vladimir Putin’s main rival, Alexei Navalny, on hunger strike in prison for 19 days, prompting world leaders to voice concern for his health.

“Events are developing in a very fast and very unfavorable manner,” Navalny’s allies Ivan Zhdanov and Leonid Volkov said in a video posted on the opponent’s website. “It’s not just about Navalny’s freedom anymore, it’s about his life. At the moment, They kill him in a penal colony and we can’t wait any longerVolkov wrote on Facebook.

He further noted that Wednesday’s protest could become a decisive battle in the fight against “absolute evil”, or the last Russian opposition rally in years.

At the end of March, Navalny’s team launched an online campaign to bring together 500,000 people ready to take to the streets to demand the politician’s release. To date, the call has already been supported by more than 450,000 citizens.

The call was made public after doctors in Navalny claimed on Saturday that the opposition politician’s health had deteriorated rapidly and that “at any time” he could suffer cardiac arrest. Zhdanov and Volkov stated in their video that “there are circumstances in which you need to act quickly to prevent something irreversible from happening“. According to Navalny employees, the life of the adversary “is at stake”, because you have serious health problems and cannot see your trusted doctor.

The date of the convocation coincides with the day on which Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to address the Federal Assembly with his annual State of the Nation address.

Under the gaze of the world

The American President, Joe biden, said on Saturday that Navalny’s situation is “totally unfair”. From his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, where he spends the weekend, Biden alluded to the activist’s “poisoning and then hunger strike” in his response to reporters who consulted him on the matter. . Meanwhile, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned that Russia will face “consequences” if the Kremlin critic dies in prison.

For its part, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le DrianHe said the French government is “extremely concerned” about the health of the opponent. “The situation in Navalni is very worrying. I hope that measures will be taken to guarantee the physical integrity of Navalni, but also his release. In this there is an enormous responsibility of President Putin ”, declared the French foreign minister in front of the cameras of the public television channel France 3.

European Union (EU) foreign ministers to analyze the case on Mondayannounced German Minister Heiko Mass. In addition, he called on the Russian authorities to provide “urgent” “adequate medical care” to the opponent, given the “very worrying” deterioration in his health, in statements to the daily Bild, demanding that “ have access to doctors you trust ”.

In addition, more than 70 writers, artists and academics, whose Jude Law, Vanessa Redgrave and Benedict Cumberbatch called on Putin to ensure Navalni receives proper treatment, through a public letter in the French newspaper The world.

On March 31, Putin’s main opponent went on a hunger strike, demanding adequate medical treatment for his back pain and numbness in his legs and hands.

Navalny, 44, went on a hunger strike on March 31 to protest the prison services’ refusal to be examined by a trusted doctor. In turn, prison authorities in the Vladimir region, where the opposition leader is serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence, reported that medical examinations Navalny underwent in early April showed that the detainee’s condition was satisfactory. .

(With information from EFE and AFP)

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