Alexei Navalny's doctors prevented from seeing him at prison clinic
Moscow, Apr 20: Several doctors were prevented Tuesday from seeing Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a prison hospital after his three-week hunger strike and prosecutors detailed a sweeping, new case against his organisation.
Navalny was transferred Sunday from a penal colony east of Moscow to a hospital unit at a prison in Vladimir, a city 180 kilometers (110 miles) east of the capital after his lawyers and associates said his condition has dramatically worsened.
In a post on his Instagram account, Navalny described a grueling search that lasted for several hours before his transfer and wryly described his condition.
You would laugh if you see me now a skeleton staggers around his cell, the post read. "They can use me to scare children who refuse to eat: If you don't eat porridge, you will be like that man with big ears, shaven head and hollow eyes.'
Navalny added a serious note that he was glad to hear from his lawyer about broad sympathy and support for him in Russia and abroad.
His lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, tweeted that Navalny so far has received only one glucose injection since Sunday at the hospital unit, which is intended to treat tuberculosis patients.
Six other attempts to give him a shot failed because paramedics apparently weren't qualified enough to find his vein, he said. His arms are all blue with the shots, Kobzev said.
Reports about Navalny's rapidly deteriorating health have drawn international outrage.
His personal physician, Dr. Anastasia Vasilyeva, led three other medical experts to try to visit Navalny at the prison clinic and the IK-3 prison in the city of Vladimir. They were denied entry after waiting for hours outside the gates.
It's a show of disrespect and mockery of the doctors, Vasilyeva tweeted, adding that Navalny's life and health are clearly in danger.
Navalny, who is Russian President Vladimir Putin's most adamant opponent, has been on a hunger strike since March 31 to protest the refusal by prison officials to let his doctors visit him and provide adequate treatment for back pains and numbness in his legs.
Russia's penitentiary service insists that Navalny was getting all the medical help he needs.
Navalny was arrested in January upon his return from Germany, where he had spent five months convalescing from the Novichok nerve agent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin an accusation Russian officials have rejected.
His arrest triggered the biggest protests seen across Russia in recent years. In February, a Moscow court ordered him to serve 2 1/2 years in prison on a 2014 embezzlement conviction that the European Court of Human Rights deemed to be arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable.
The prison service said in a statement Monday that Navalny's condition was deemed satisfactory, but another of his physicians, Dr. Yaroslav Ashikhmin, said over the weekend that test results provided by his family show Navalny has sharply elevated levels of potassium, which can bring on cardiac arrest, as well as heightened creatinine levels that indicate impaired kidney function.
Despite his worsening condition, Navalny still showed his sardonic humor.
I laughed when I saw medical luminaries' comments that with such a level of potassium that I had in my tests, I should have been either in emergency care or in a coffin, he went on. No, they wouldn't get me that easily. I wouldn't be scared with potassium after Novichok.
In response to Navalny's deteriorating health, his associates have called for a nationwide rally Wednesday, the same day that Putin is scheduled to deliver his annual state of the nation address.
Russian authorities, meanwhile, have escalated their crackdown on Navalny's allies and supporters, with the Moscow prosecutor's office asking a court to brand Navalny's Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his network of regional offices as extremist organisations.
Human rights activists say such a move would paralyze their activities and expose their members and donors to prison sentences of up to 10 years.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
'Will return to Lok Sabha if alive,' says Brij Bhushan Singh, alleges conspiracy behind ouster
Gonda (PTI): Former Kaiserganj MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Wednesday alleged that he was removed from the Lok Sabha not by the people but through a conspiracy, and vowed to return to the lower house once more in his life.
Speaking in a news channel podcast, the BJP strongman said his term was cut short, and he was "humiliated and forced out."
"If I am alive, I will definitely go to the Lok Sabha once again… I will try to contest on a BJP ticket. If the party does not give a ticket, I will contest as an Independent candidate. But if I am alive, I will contest," he asserted.
He said it hurt him that he was not invited to the second year of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, even though he is a public representative.
The politician said he declined another invitation on grounds of self-respect, alleging that the original 'karsevaks' of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement were ignored while those without contribution were invited.
He said he has not yet visited Ram Lalla, and when he does, he will stand in the queue like a common man.
Recalling the period when allegations of sexual harassment were levelled against him, Singh said Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav did not make any statement against him at the time, a gesture he said he would never forget.
He said leaders from the BSP, JD(U), and RJD also refrained from making statements against him then.
On Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Singh said he feels pained when questions are raised on the army and Sanatan Dharma. He alleged that Gandhi's advisors have a Leftist mindset, due to which such issues are raised that are "liked in Pakistan."
Singh, who represented three parliamentary constituencies of the Devipatan division six times, was replaced by the BJP in the 2024 general election following allegations against him by several female wrestlers.
His son Karan Bhushan Singh was fielded from Kaiserganj and currently represents the seat.
_vb_46.jpeg)