Alexei Navalny accuses Russian authorities of 'torture' and damaging his health

Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, who is in the prison, has accused the authorities of subjecting him to “torture”. He has also accused them of damaging his health by denying him proper treatment for a back problem. Russia’s opposition leader Alexei Navalny was moved from Kolchugino jail earlier this month and transported 60 miles on the outskirts of east of Moscow by the law enforcement authorities. He was then detained in what he described as a ‘Sector of Enhanced Control A’. The reports of his transfer to a ‘dehumanizing’ penal camp were confirmed by the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), Alexander Kalashnikov, who told reporters of RIA Novosti news agency that the 44-year-old government critic was being held in IK-2 penal camp in detention centre-3 where Russia’s ‘political criminals’ are jailed. 

Responding to the accusations, the Russian Prison authorities on Thursday, March 25 said that Navalny’s condition is stable and satisfactory. However, his lawyer Olga Mikhailova said she and her colleagues fear for his life and health. This was after she paid a visit to him. 

Navalny's "deteriorating" health 

Earlier, Navalny complained of “deteriorating” health as he has been facing symptoms of paralysis in one leg and severe back pain, his lawyers have said, demanding access to the penal camp. Navalny’s regional network coordinator Leonid Volkov wrote in a Telegram update that Navalny was unable to effectively do one leg movement due to numbing pain and was administered only two ibuprofen by the detention cell authorities. Volkov warned that “his [Navlny’s] life may be in danger”.

Navalny’s attorney, further alleged, “We believe that he may now be in the prison hospital and the IK-2 [prison] administration may be trying to hide this fact.” He added, Navalny could “no longer walk '' and health-wise was in a poor condition due to enforcement of a harsh discipline regime in the jail that runs in the likeness of a ‘concentration camp’. “Under the circumstances known to us, a sharp deterioration in his health cannot cause anything but extreme concern,” Volkov continued in the update.

(Image Credits: AP)