Explained: Is Russia slowly poisoning Putin critic Alexei Navalny in prison?

Prison isn’t easy and who knows this better than Russia’s leading opposition politician, Alexei Navalny. Two days ago, the opposition leader through his team said that he was once again placed in solitary confinement at the maximum-security IK-6 penal colony at Melekhovo, about 250 kilometre east of Moscow and that the conditions was hellish. His placement in the lone cell comes after he returned to his cell following an ambulance being rushed on Friday on complaints of acute stomach ache. His team and supporters now believe that he is being slowly poisoned in prison and worry for his life. Navalny’s health deteriorates Alexei Navalny is currently lodged at the maximum security prison in Russia and serving combined sentences of 11.5 years for fraud and contempt of court. On Tuesday, his spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said that the 46-year-old is experiencing severe stomach issues. Moreover, he has lost eight kilograms over the past 15 days. Yarmysh says that so acute was Navalny’s pain on Friday that the prison officials were forced to call an ambulance to treat him. “The ambulance was called by the penal colony’s personnel,” Yarmysh told the New York Times. “We understand that the situation must have been critical.” She added that he hasn’t been eating anything because he is prohibited from receiving parcels with food or to buy food in the prison store and the food that is provided by the prison to him actually worsens his stomach pain. Yarmysh later added that they worry that Navalny is being slowly poisoned, as he never suffered such pain or incidents of discomfort in the past. She states that the worry is legitimate as prison officials even refused to inform Navalny of the diagnosis and when pressed said, “It’s spring, everyone has acute symptoms.” [caption id=“attachment_12454422” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A tweet from jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, about his condition is seen in this screen grab from Twitter. Image Courtesy: Kira Yarmysh/Reuters[/caption] Navalny’s lawyer Vadim Kobzev said that his team will request for the toxicological and radiological tests. “This may sound like nonsense and paranoia to someone else, but not to Navalny after Novichok,” Kobzev tweeted on Tuesday. The situation has even prompted the German government to express concern for Navalny. German government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said that Berlin wants “the inhuman treatment that he is apparently suffering in prison to be lifted,” and wants Russian authorities to ensure he gets access to medical treatment and is released. The famous opposition leader has in the past described how bad the situation is in prison. In February, he had said that he was being moved to a “cell-type facility” and would not be given access to meet his family or loved ones. Not the first poisoning instance Navalny’s supporters alleging poisoning isn’t too far-fetched or incredulous. In 2020, the Russian had been poisoned using the nerve agent Novichok. It was in August of that year that the Russian opposition figure and anti-corruption activist was hospitalised after he was poisoned. The incident came to light during a flight from Siberia’s Tomsk to Moscow when he became ill and was rushed to a hospital. Two days later, he was evacuated to a hospital in Berlin. The use of the nerve agent was confirmed later and he was discharged from hospital in September. Investigations had revealed that Russia was behind the poisoning. Navalny, himself, duped one of the operatives allegedly involved in the attempt to kill him to disclose details of the operation and demanded to know what had gone wrong. The operative revealed that the FSB was behind the poisoning. He said his colleagues had applied novichok to the “inner seams” of the opposition leader’s boxer shorts, when Navalny was staying in the Siberian city of Tomsk. [caption id=“attachment_12454432” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] An activist holds a portrait of opposition politician Alexei Navalny. For many, he is the Russian version of South African icon Nelson Mandela. File image/Reuters[/caption] A thorn in Putin’s side Navalny is a former lawyer and became internationally prominent a decade ago when he slammed the Russian elite and alleged corruption on a vast scale. He has said that Russia is ruled by “crooks and thieves”. When demonstrations against Putin flared in December 2011, after an election tainted by fraud accusations, he was one of the first protest leaders arrested. While his supporters see him as a Russian version of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Russian authorities view him and his supporters as extremists with links to the US Central Intelligence Agency who are intent on trying to destabilise Russia. They have outlawed his movement, forcing many of his followers to flee abroad. In January 2021 after he survived the novichok poisoning, he returned to his homeland only to be arrested and imprisoned. His arrest was for violating the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence for fraud. The BBC reported that the case against him was based on his failure to report regularly to police during 2020. His legal team said that was absurd, as the authorities knew full well he was getting emergency treatment in Berlin for the Novichok nerve agent attack in Siberia. He reminded the court he had been in a coma during part of that time. Navalny had told the Moscow court that between January and August 2020 he had reported to the police twice a month. He had then dismissed the fraud case as an attempt to silence him. Navalny has also been scathing in his criticism of Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the Ukraine war. During a court appearance in May 2022, he accused Putin of starting a “stupid war” with “no purpose or meaning”. And in September, he accused Russian elites of having a “bloodthirsty obsession with Ukraine” in an article for the Washington Post. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.