Alexei Navalny’s personal doctors urged him to stop his hunger strike. They fear that the Kremlin critic will soon die.
In a call, the doctors, including the cardiologist, asked the 44-year-old to quit his job “in the interest of your life and your health” as soon as possible.
Navalny has been on hunger strike since the end of March and his health has deteriorated sharply recently. The opposition leader is said to be suffering from kidney failure and has complained of severe back pain and numbness in his right leg.
Because of his deteriorating conditions, he was transferred from the prison camp, where he was transferred to a hospital in a reformatory. He is currently banned from contacting his doctors.
On Wednesday, Navalny’s supporters took to the streets in dozens of Russian cities to protest against the politician’s treatment in the concentration camp. The Russian police had banned these protests and were harsh on them. At least 1,500 people would have been arrested.
Navalny is still weakened by the poisoning
Navalny, a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison in February for failing to comply with the terms of a previous conviction for fraud.
The opposition leader was arrested in January after returning from Germany, where he was recovering from poisoning with the highly dangerous Novichok nerve gas. Navalny accuses Putin of ordering the attack, but denies this.
