NAVALNY’S HEALTH IN PRISON CAMP WORSENS

Alexei Navalny, the Russian dissident being held in a prison camp to the east of Moscow, has complained of a further deterioration in his health, Hannah Wagner and Christian Thiele reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

He has been diagnosed with a fever of 38.1 degrees Celsius and a "severe cough," but he will continue his hunger strike, which he started a few days ago, Navalny wrote on Instagram on Monday. Three of his fellow prisoners had already been taken to hospital because of tuberculosis.

According to the Izvestia newspaper on Monday evening, Navalny received medical care. The 44-year-old was to be examined for signs of respiratory illness and elevated body temperature. Navalny is "under the supervision of medical staff," prison authorities said, according to the report. A coronavirus test has also been carried out.

The leading opposition politician, who is imprisoned in a prison camp about 100 kilometers east of Moscow, has been reporting severe back pain and paralysis in one leg for some time.

Last Wednesday, Navalny declared that he had gone on hunger strike in protest at a lack of medical care. In February, Navalny was sentenced to several years in prison in a much-criticized trial. The Russian judiciary accuses him of violating reporting requirements in an earlier criminal case while he was recovering in Germany from an assassination attempt involving the nerve agent Novichok.

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