‘Poisoned’ activist back in jail
Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition activist, was transferred from a hospital back to prison yesterday, despite claims he had been poisoned in police detention amid growing protests in Moscow calling for free elections.
Anastasia Vasilyeva, Navalny’s doctor, who examined the opposition leader in hospital yesterday, said ‘‘some toxic agent’’ may have been what had caused his severe facial swelling, upper body rash, skin lesions and eye discharge.
Vasilyeva said he had been discharged from the hospital before relevant tests were run on him.
‘‘He has not fully recovered. He should have been left under medical supervision,’’ she told reporters outside the hospital. ‘‘Who is going to watch over him at the detention facility? They are not qualified to provide him with professional help.’’
Addressing reporters outside the hospital earlier in the day, Olga Mikhailova, Navalny’s lawyer, said her client had been poisoned by an unidentified chemical agent while in police detention.
The incident has aggravated concerns over another poisoning scandal in Russia, which stands accused of employing the tactic to silence critics.
Russian intelligence services were implicated in the March 2018 poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Kremlin spy, and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England.
Navalny, a prominent lawyer and anti-corruption activist, was taken to hospital on Monday after suffering what his spokesman said was an ‘‘acute allergic reaction’’.
Russian authorities initially said he was suffering from hives.
Dozens of Navalny’s supporters were violently dispersed by police outside the hospital on Monday evening, with reports that 10 protesters were detained.
Among those arrested was a reporter for the liberal-learning Dozhd television network, who was hauled off by riot police during a live broadcast.
Navalny, a one-time presidential hopeful, is serving a 30-day prison sentence for calling the mass demonstrations in the Russian capital on Sunday, during which police detained 1400 protesters calling for free elections. – Telegraph Group