IN THE WORLD TODAY

Navalny in hospital after hunger strike

RUSSIAN opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in the third week of a hunger strike, will be admitted to a hospital in another prison, the Russian state penitentiary service said.

The move comes after the politician’s doctor said he could be near death.

The prison service, called FSIN, also said Navalny had agreed to take vitamin therapy, but an ally of the 44-year-old Kremlin critic cast doubt on that and the hospital transfer, saying his lawyers should confirm both.

But Navalny’s doctor, Yaroslav Ashikhmin, said on Saturday that test results he received from the family show him with sharply elevated levels of potassium, which can bring on cardiac arrest, and heightened creatinine levels that indicate impaired kidneys.

The service said in a statement that Navalny would be transferred to a hospital for convicts located in a penal colony in Vladimir, a city 110 miles east of Moscow.

It also said Navalny was receiving all the medical help he needs.

Last month, the politician was transferred to a penal colony east of Moscow notorious for its harsh conditions.

Navalny has complained about being sleep-deprived due to guards conducting hourly checks on him at night, and said he has developed severe back pain and numbness in his legs within weeks of being transferred. His demands for a visit from an independent doctor were rebuffed by prison officials, and he went on hunger strike on March 31.

In a message from prison on Friday, Navalny said prison officials threatened to force-feed him “imminently”, using a “straitjacket and other pleasures”.