Navalny describes threats of being force-fed

Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been on hunger strike since March 31, has described threats to force-feed him using a “straitjacket and other pleasures”.

In an Instagram post, Mr Navalny said an official told him a blood test indicated his health was deteriorating and threatened to force-feed him if he continues to refuse to eat.

“And then she detailed the joys of force-feeding to me. Straitjacket and other pleasures,” the politician said.

Mr Navalny, president Vladimir Putin’s most vociferous critic, is demanding a visit from his physician after developing severe back pain and numbness in his legs in prison.

The 44-year-old was arrested in January on his return from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin.

Mr Navalny’s arrest triggered a wave of protests across Russia, the biggest show of defiance in recent years.

Soon after his arrest, a court ordered Mr Navalny to serve two and a half years in prison on a 2014 embezzlement conviction he said was fabricated and the European Court of Human Rights deemed to be “arbitrary”.

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

Alexei Navalny.