Lawyers claim Navalny is being ‘tortured’ & in ‘severe pain,’ but Russian prison service says he is in ‘satisfactory’ state

Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny is in an “extremely unfavorable” state of health and is experiencing pain in his back and leg. That’s according to his lawyer Olga Mikhailova, contradicting claims from prison officials.

Speaking to journalists, Mikhailova explained that Navalny has been suffering for four weeks, but forbade his lawyers from talking about it. At the moment, she says the opposition figure’s right leg is in “a terrible state,” calling it “incapacitated.”

Writing on Twitter, the corruption activist’s other lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, claimed that the prison service is following a “deliberate strategy to undermine his health,” alleging the opposition figure has received no medical assistance other than two tablets of ibuprofen every day.

“All this is greatly complicated by the fact that he is tortured with sleep deprivation,” he claimed. “He is woken up eight times a night for ‘preventive monitoring,’ although a video camera is already hanging right above his bed.”

Kobzev also alleged that Navalny has lost feeling in his right leg and has been refused the recommended medicines. He was seen by a neurologist last week.

Writing on Twitter, Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya claimed that the “bastards” in prison also refused to pass on doctor’s recommendations for “exercises that relieve pain.”

“I demand that Alexey is given the opportunity to be treated by those doctors whom he trusts,” she wrote, claiming that physicians within the Federal Penitentiary Service cannot be relied on.

“Putin has already told the whole country that he reads my appeals to him. So: I demand the immediate release of my husband, Alexey Navalny, whom he has illegally imprisoned,” she concluded.

The latest news came shortly after the country’s prison service released a statement saying that Navalny had undergone “medical examinations,” and he was found to be in a “stable and satisfactory” state of health.

The deterioration of Navalny’s condition became public knowledge on Wednesday, when his regional network coordinator Leonid Volkov wrote on Telegram that “he is being hidden from lawyers,” suggesting that the prison service was trying to cover up his physical condition. 

“Alexey Navalny is, as the whole world knows, a personal prisoner, a personal hostage of Vladimir Putin; a dangerous, mad killer,” Volkov said. “Vladimir Putin is personally responsible for the state of life and health of Alexey Navalny in the torture colony in Pokrov.”

Following the lawyers’ statements on Thursday, Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) released the text of two official complaints against the prison service, demanding that he be seen immediately by doctors and the “torture by sleep deprivation” be stopped. Established in 2011, the FBK is registered in Russia as a foreign agent.

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