Moscow: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was ‘poisoned’ by an unidentified toxic substance but doctors have sent him back to jail despite his condition, his lawyer Olga Mikhailova said Monday.
President Vladimir Putin’s top opponent was rushed to hospital Sunday a day after almost 1,400 people were arrested at an unauthorized protest, in the largest police crackdown on dissent in recent years.
Alexi Navalny was hospitalised following what was described as an acute allergic reaction, but his supporters later said they believed he had been exposed to poison. “It is indeed poisoning by some unknown chemical substance,” Mikhailova told reporters Monday outside Moscow’s Hospital No 64, where Alexi Navalny was treated.
Navalny had swollen eyelids, discharge in the eye and a rash on his upper body, his personal physician Anastasia Vasilyeva said. She told reporters that both she and the 43-year-old politician believe the reaction could have been a response to ‘some chemical agent’.
Vasilyeva said doctors at the hospital diagnosed him with a skin condition, adding that he had improved after being treated with a steroid. However, his return to prison is a worrying factor for Vasilyeva who said Alexi Navalny needs sustained treatment.
A senior doctor at the hospital told reporters that Navalny’s health was not under threat. But Vasilyeva accused the hospital doctors of not wanting to find out what caused Navalny’s condition.
The Russian opposition leader is serving a 30-day jail sentence for calling Saturday’s rally after authorities blocked prominent independent candidates from taking part in Moscow parliament elections in September.
The Kremlin on Monday scrambled to contain a fresh political crisis after police brutally crushed a peaceful rally that saw thousands take to the Moscow streets at the weekend to urge the authorities to open up the tightly-controlled system.
AP
