3/31/21
Jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has declared a hunger strike, saying he is being deprived of proper medical treatment as fear among his associates grows over his state of health just months after being in a coma following a poison attack. Last week, the Kremlin critic, currently incarcerated in Correctional Colony No. 2, one of the toughest penitentiaries in Russia, said he had received nothing more from prison doctors than ibuprofen despite being in acute pain from leg and back ailments. In an Instagram post on March 31, he said the severe pain had worsened and that he had lost some sensitivity in both legs. "I have declared a hunger strike demanding that the law be upheld and a doctor of my choice be allowed to visit me," Navalny said in an Instagram post, which was published through his lawyers. "So I'm lying here, hungry, but still with two legs." Navalny's health became an issue last week after his allies said they were worried that he was ailing and called on prison authorities to clarify his condition. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States and its allies and partners have continually called for Navalny’s release and will continue to seek to hold accountable those who are responsible for his detention and attempts on his life. “We’ve been very clear that Aleksei Navalny is a political prisoner,” Price said at a briefing. “His detention is politically motivated.” In addition, Navalny, 44, again accused prison guards of torturing him through sleep deprivation by waking him up to eight times a night to check on his status even though there is a live closed-circuit TV camera in his cell. Hundreds of Russian physicians have demanded authorities provide immediate medical assistance to Navalny.
