Aides to imprisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny expressed further fears about the health of the 47-year-old Kremlin critic.
Navalny’s team has been unable to contact him for five days in the Russian prison camp where he is being held. Navalny’s team had raised alarm about his health and survival on Friday after the opposition activist was not connected via video as usual during court hearings.
There is still no news, Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on Saturday. Navalny’s lawyers have been trying to contact him for five days but have been refused access by Russian authorities.
Yarmysh said prison staff had put him on a drip last week after he suffered a dizzy spell and lay down on the floor of his cell in what she said looked like a “hunger faint”.
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny thought Wagner revolt was a ‘joke’
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny thought Wagner revolt was a ‘joke’
“We have learned that last week he had a serious health-related incident. Navalny’s life is at great risk. He is in complete isolation right now,” Maria Pevchikh, chair of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, posted on social media platform X earlier this week.
Navalny’s team said that Russia prison officials blamed an electricity outage for the lack of a video link.
Letters from or to Navalny have not been delivered for a week, according to his aides.
Russian general critical of army found dead, with his wife
Russian general critical of army found dead, with his wife
Navalny is being held in a prison camp in the town of Kovrov in the Vladimir region, about 260 kilometres east of Moscow.
He was sentenced to 19 years in Russian prison on what are seen internationally as trumped-up charges to silence his criticism of President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny has long-term health issues, having survived being poisoned with a nerve agent in Siberia in 2020. The Kremlin denied trying to kill him and refuses to comment on his case, saying he is treated like any other prisoner.