Navalny ends his hunger strike
Kremlin critic gets visit from non-jail doctors
After nearly a month without food, Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny announced Friday he’s ending his hunger strike following a visit from doctors, who warned that continuing the protest would put his life at risk.
The jailed Russian opposition leader launched his strike on March 31 to spotlight what he called unfair treatment by prison authorities at Penal Colony No. 2, located about 100 miles outside Moscow. He claimed at the time that he was not receiving proper medical care for severe back pain and numbness in his legs.
Officials have insisted Navalny has been given all the medical help he needs, but the 44-yearold has repeatedly pushed back against the claims, saying he received effectively no treatment.
In a post shared on his Instagram page Friday, Navalny revealed his request for care from a doctor outside the facility — the primary demand at the start of his protest — had been granted and that he would continue to request treatment from his own physicians in the future.
“With the tremendous support of good people across the country and around the world, we have made tremendous progress,” Navalny said in his message. “Two months ago, they smirked at my requests for medical assistance, they did not give any medicines and did not allow them to be transferred. A month ago, they laughed in my face at phrases like: ‘Can I find out my diagnosis?’ and ‘Can I see my own medical record?’ ”
He continued: “Thanks to you, now I have been examined by a concilium of civilian doctors twice.”
Navalny said he would gradually start “coming out of the hunger strike,” a process he expects will take 24 days.
The Russian state penitentiary service said on Monday they’d decided to transfer Navalny to a hospital at another prison, just days after his physician, Dr. Yaroslav Ashikhmin, warned the politician “could die at any moment.”
Ashikhmin, in a Facebook post last Saturday, revealed that test results he received from Navalny’s family showed that he had sharply elevated levels of potassium, which can bring on
cardiac arrest, and heightened creatinine levels that indicate impaired kidneys.
In February, a Russian court sentenced Navalny to more than two years in jail for parole violations — charges he has long maintained were politically motivated. He was taken into custody upon his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning he and his followers have blamed
on President government.
He initially fell ill in August during a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk back to Moscow, prompting an emergency landing.
Russian officials have repeatedly denied any involvement in the poisoning.
Navalny’s arrest and conviction has spawned mass protests across Russia in recent months.
Vladimir
Putin’s