A lawyer for jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said on Wednesday that his health was deteriorating and that he was losing a kilogram (2 pounds) a day due to his hunger strike.
Navalny, 44, a prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced a hunger strike last week in protest at what he said was the refusal of prison authorities to treat him properly for acute back and leg pain. He is recovering from what doctors say was a nerve agent poisoning that occurred before he went to prison in February to serve two and a half years.
His lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, visited him on Wednesday in the penal colony holding him in Vladimir region east of Moscow and said that Navalny had been diagnosed with herniated spinal discs.
“Alexei is walking himself. He feels pain while walking. It is very concerning that the illness is clearly progressing in terms of losing sensation in his legs, palms and wrists,” Kobzev tweeted.