(PatriotWise.com) — A prominent Russian leader, and opponent of Vladimir Putin, has lost 18 lbs in two weeks as aides worry he has been poisoned. Alexei Navalny is imprisoned in a maximum security facility at Melekhovo, around 100 miles from Moscow. His spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said he is regularly confined to a solitary punishment cell. He fell ill after he was released from the punishment cell back into the prison’s general population. He was rushed to the hospital with abdominal pain but was not informed of a diagnosis.
In a Twitter post, Yarmysh complained about the seriousness of Navalny’s situation.
1/4 The lawyer says that an ambulance was called for Alexey @navalny on the night of Friday to Saturday because of an acute stomach pain. No one is treating him and they are not even telling him the diagnosis. He has lost 8 kilos(!) in the last 15 days in the punishment cell.
— Кира Ярмыш (@Kira_Yarmysh) April 11, 2023
Navalny is serving an 11-year prison sentence on charges of fraud and contempt of court. Human rights groups maintain that the charges were fabricated to silence him. A group of doctors recently signed a joint letter – risking prosecution – to demand better treatment for the dissident. His fellow activist Ruslan Shaveddinov said Navalny’s health has been deteriorating for some time and he suspects he is being poisoned.
In 2020, Navalny fell victim to poisoning from a Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. He was treated in Berlin and later blamed Vladimir Putin for the attack.
There is a long history of Putin’s enemies either ending up in prison or dead. Last December, Pavel Antov, a Russian politician, reportedly fell out of his hotel window two days after criticizing the Russian war in Ukraine. Oil man Ravil Maganov made similar criticisms and also died from slipping from a window. In addition, Latvian businessman Dan Rapoport was found dead in Washington, DC, last August. Rapoport had voiced his staunch support for Ukraine while living in Moscow. It is unclear exactly how he died, but reports suggest he had “jumped” from a window. Some journalists claimed he had committed suicide but this was fiercely denied by his wife.
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