Jailed Kremlin critic Navalny goes on hunger strike in defiance to treatment in prison

Alleging that he was refused appropriate medical assistance and was sleep deprived, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political rival Alexei Navalny announced on Wednesday that he was going on a hunger strike to protest treatment in the prison cell. "I have the right to call a doctor and get medications. They give me neither one nor the other. The back pain has moved to the leg. Parts of my right leg and now of my left leg have lost sensitivity. Jokes aside, but this is already annoying," Kremlin’s anti-corruption campaigner wrote in a social media post. 

The former wrote a letter to the head of penal colony No.2 in Pokrov, in the Vladimir region to inform that he was going on a hunger strike as his health has been on a constant decline due to negligence by the cell authorities and he suffered from excruciating back pain. "I announce a hunger strike with a demand for the law to be obeyed and that I'm seen by a doctor from outside. So I'm hungry, but so far I still have two legs," Navalny said.

Navalny was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison by a makeshift court on charges of flouting his parole last month, was transported 60 miles on the outskirts of east of Moscow by the law enforcement authorities, and was detained in what he described a ‘Sector of Enhanced Control A’. The sentenced opposition Russian politician was accused of breaking minor prison rules and reports emerged that he was at risk of being transferred to solitary confinement ‘punishment’ cell allegedly used for torture of inmates. The Kremlin critic had informed in an update that he was handed six reprimands over two weeks, adding that just two reprimands were enough for the Russian prison tribunal to send a prisoner to a punishment cell. "The conditions there are close to torture," he said, referring to the ‘punishment cell’ of the  IK-2 penal colony about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Moscow. 

'We fear for the worst,' medics say

On Sunday this week, a group of medical professionals demanded in a letter that the 44-year-old activist’s health was deteriorating and he was being denied proper care. "We fear for the worst. Leaving a patient in this condition may lead to severe consequences, including an irreversible, full or partial loss of lower limb functions," the letter read. Moreover, the Russian public commission on human rights told  TASS that Navalny had asked for painkillers and medicines to assist with pain in his leg so he can continue to walk but was denied for it. The group claimed that he was being woken up every hour by the prison guard undermined his health to worse.

Navalny’s official Twitter handle fired a statement, saying: "Every convict has the right to invite a specialist for examination and consultation. Even with me, even though I'm innocent. Therefore, I demand that a doctor be allowed to see me, and while this has not happened, I am going on a hunger strike." Although denying the reports of Navalny's critical health conditions, Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) told Interfax his health was examined by the prison facility medics, and his condition was "stable and satisfactory"

(Image Credit: AP)