Russian opponent Alexei Navalny accused Vladimir Putin of denying him medical care after falling ill

the russian opponent Alexei Navalni, jailed for two years, said Wednesday that he suffers from flu-like symptoms and that he was denied access to a timely medical attention.

His supporters denounced a Kremlin offensive to “kill” him little by little.

From his cell, Navalni had to attend three hearings by videoconference during the day regarding complaints against the restrictions imposed by the prison administration.

He addressed the judge and requested a postponement of the three hearings for health reasons, a request that was accepted, he confirmed to the agency AFP his spokesman, Kira Iarmich.

Navalni, 46, stated that he had to carry out “a fierce fight” to get “basic medicines” and that he had been denied hospitalization in the medical unit from his prison, located 200 km from Moscow.

“It took me four days to get some more hot water”, he said, quoted by his team, claiming to have “fever and high blood pressure”.

“Russian President (Vladimir) Putin continues to try to kill Navalni, but more quietly and slowly”, denounced his defense team on Wednesday.

Nearly 500 Russian doctors signed a petition, posted on Facebook, calling on Putin to provide appropriate care for Navalni and to put an end to the “ill-treatment” against him.

On Monday, the activist announced that on December 31 he was sent for the tenth time to a disciplinary Cell, for a period of 15 days, where their isolation and their rights are even more limited, for having bathed before the regulatory time.

Navalni, a staunch opponent of Vladimir Putin and the military offensive in Ukraine, was arrested in Russia in January 2021, upon his return to the country after suffering a serious injury. poisoning that he attributes to the Kremlin.

In March he was sentenced to nine years in prison in a “severe” regime for accusations of “fraud” that he considers fictitious.

Last December, Navalni denounced that he suffers physical abuse in jail and claimed to be able to read his medical history, after receiving medication injections without being informed of what was applied.

The Kremlin critic exposed his situation on his Twitter account, in a thread of messages in which he recounted the pain that afflicts him.

“I have a spinal problem.”, wrote. As he explained, it is a consequence of having been locked up for the last three months in a punishment cell, where you can only stand or sit in a iron stool for 16 hours a day.

“Look at how the system works when you’re not allowed to hit a person, but your bosses order you to do a lot of damage,” he said.

Given the pain he was suffering, he requested a medical examination, which was only granted after a month and a half of requests and after threatening to file a lawsuit.

“It took him five minutes to examine me,” he said of the doctor, who did not give his name or place of work.

Later, according to his story, they gave him a series of injections. When he asked what it was about, they told him: “We inject what the doctor has prescribed. Group B vitamins, for example”.

Navalny expressed his discomfort at not having the details of what was being put into his veins. In addition, they ignored him when he asked that the name of the doctor, the diagnosis and the prescribed drugs be written to him, despite the written complaint of his lawyer.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

Keep reading: