Navalny ends hunger strike
Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, said he was ending his hunger strike after doctors warned him his life would be in danger if he persisted.
The announcement marked an end to a successful campaign to force the Russian authorities to allow him to see a civilian doctor.
Navalny, who has been in custody since January, went on hunger strike more than three weeks ago after the prison administration refused to give him access to medics outside of the penal system.
The Kremlin’s most formidable critic had complained about severe back pain and numbness in his legs, which could be traced back to his near-fatal poisoning with the Novichok nerve agent last year.
In a message passed on by his lawyer, Navalny said he was ending his 24-day hunger strike because his doctors warned that unless he stopped, “there will be no one left to treat”.
“My friends, my heart is full of love and gratitude but I don’t want anyone to suffer because of me,” he said.
In a major push to secure treatment for Navalny, his supporters mounted nationwide protests on Thursday in nearly 100 Russian towns and cities.
In Moscow, several thousand people roamed the city centre for hours chanting “Free Navalny”.
The 44-year-old politician, who was sentenced in February to nearly three years in prison for breaking the terms of his parole, confirmed he had been seen by civilian doctors twice and that he got the tests he needed. He credited the public campaign for getting some of his demands met.
Navalny, however, is not out of the woods yet.
His personal physician and four other Moscow-based doctors, who still have not been allowed to examine him, voiced concern about the fact he did not have access to the right kind of painkillers, according to medical files.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied Russia’s involvement in Navalny’s poisoning and insists he is getting the medical treatment he requires.