Putin foe claims ill treatment in prison

MOSCOW — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has accused prison authorities of failing to provide proper treatment for his back pain and leg problems, saying in a letter posted Thursday that his physical condition has worsened in prison and he now has trouble walking.

Navalny blamed his health problems on prison officials failing to provide the right medicines and refusing to allow his doctor to visit him behind bars. He also complained in a second letter that the hourly checks a guard makes on him at night amounted to sleep deprivation torture.

Copies of his letters to penitentiary officials and Russia’s top prosecutor were posted on Navalny’s website.

The 44-year-old Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken opponent, was arrested Jan. 17 upon his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Russian authorities have rejected the accusation.

Last month, Navalny was sentenced to 2½ years in prison for violating the terms of his probation while convalescing in Germany. The sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that Navalny has rejected as fabricated — and which the European ourt of Human Rights has ruled to be unlawful.

Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said earlier Thursday that Navalny had undergone medical checkups the previous day, describing his condition as “stable and satisfactory.”