MOSCOW (AP) – A lawyer for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who complained of severe back and leg pain in custody, said Wednesday that doctors found him suffering from two spinal hernias.
Vadim Kobzev told the Interfax news agency that Navalny also has a prominent spine and is starting to lose his feeling in his hands.
Navalny went on a hunger strike last week to protest what he called poor health care in a Russian prison. On Tuesday, the leader of the Navalny-backed doctors’ union was detained by police after he tried to go to jail to talk to doctors.
Navalny, 44, is the fiercest internal opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was arrested in January on his return to Moscow from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nervous breakdown he blames on the Kremlin. The Russian authorities rejected the accusation. However, laboratories in Germany and elsewhere in Europe have confirmed that Navalny was poisoned by Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.
A Russian court ordered Navalny in February to serve two and a half years in prison for violating probation, including while convalescing in Germany, from a 2014 embezzlement sentence. Navalny rejected the sentence as fabricated, and the European Court of Human Rights considered it “arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable”.
Navalny said in an Instagram post on Wednesday that prison authorities tried to undermine his hunger strike by allowing him to cook fragrant chicken in his unit’s kitchen, a breach of regulations and placing sweets in his clothes pockets.
“Do you know what turned out to be the most important in the first stage of the prison hunger strike? Check your pockets, “he wrote.
Navalny’s prison has drawn widespread criticism from the West. White House spokesman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday: “We urge the Russian authorities to take all necessary steps to ensure their safety and health,” adding that “we believe that Mr Navalny’s imprisonment for the charges is politically motivated and an injustice.” and we stand by allies and partners of the same opinion to demand his immediate release. ”
Authorities transferred Navalny from a Moscow prison last month to the IK-2 penal colony in the Vladimir region, 85 kilometers (53 miles) east of the Russian capital. The facility in the city of Pokrov stands out among Russian penitentiaries for its particularly strict prison routines, which include attention for hours.
A few weeks after his imprisonment, Navalny said he developed severe back and leg pain and was effectively sleep deprived because a security guard checked him at night. He went on hunger strike on March 31, demanding access to appropriate medicines and a visit from his doctor.
Russia’s state penitentiary service says Navalny is getting all the medical help he needs.
Another Navalny lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, said a neurologist consulted by the Navalny organization said the treatment prescribed in prison was ineffective.
Navalny said Monday that three of the 15 people he is staying with have been diagnosed with tuberculosis, a contagious disease that spreads through the air. He said he had a strong cough and fever with a temperature of 38.1 degrees Celsius (100.6 F).
On Monday, the state penitentiary service said Navalny was the prison’s medical unit, after a check found him with “signs of a respiratory illness, including high fever.”
Mihailova said on Wednesday that Navalny’s fever had decreased, but he was still coughing and was weak from a hunger strike.