Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Sick In Prison After Suspected Second Poisoning

According to his spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny is suffering from severe stomach pain after possibly being poisoned in prison. She claimed that he could not eat the food provided to him because it would make his stomach pain worse. He has also been banned from buying food from the prison store.

An ambulance was sent last week to the IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo where Navalny is being held. Navalny ally Ruslan Shaveddinov told The Guardian this Friday that he believes Navalny’s opponents have used a “slow-acting poison” that was put in his food, leaving him in a “critical” situation.

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Navalny, 46, was sent to the penal colony after being convicted on charges of contempt and fraud. Human rights activists have criticized his 11-and-a-half-year sentence and see his imprisonment as an attempt to eliminate one of Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s most prominent critics.

Shaveddinov explained his theory, saying the case is similar to the murder attempt on his life in 2020 using Novichok, a nerve agent.

Bellingcat, a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group, accused a team of Russian FSB agents in the attack. In 2020, Putin admitted that agents had been tracking Navlany, but he denied the Bellingcat report.

Yarmysh said that she’s concerned about Navalny as it’s ultimately Putin who will decide what happens to him. She continued, “We know that he already tried to kill Alexei, so nothing can stop him to try again.” In 2020, Navalny survived a poisoning attempt with a nerve agent during a flight in Siberia.

Navalny’s allies have also claimed that he has spent months in a specific punishment cell, or “shizo” in an effort to break him.

The penitentiary service has denied all allegations that its employees have mistreated Navalny and has stated that he has been given medical treatment when needed.