Putin critic Alexei Navalny loses weight, blames harsh prison
- The Russian opposition figure is said to have lost 8kg (18lbs) after he was jailed last month
- Navalny said he was going on hunger strike on Wednesday to protest against poor medical care for his back and leg pain
Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has lost a substantial amount of weight in custody, his organisation said on Thursday, a day after the well-known government critic called a hunger strike to protest what he called poor medical care.
A post Thursday on Navalny’s channel in the Telegram messaging app said he weighed 93kg (204 pounds) when he arrived at the prison last month and now is at 85kg (187 pounds).
The statement said he blames the weight loss primarily on a harsh prison regime in which he is awakened eight times every night.
Navalny also is complaining of severe back pains that have spread to one leg and says his other leg is numb. Prison authorities have not provided proper medicine or allowed his doctor to visit him, he said Wednesday when announcing he was going on a hunger strike.
02:05
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny arrested and detained upon return to Russia after near-fatal poisoning
The 44-year-old Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken domestic opponent, was arrested in January 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.