Imprisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of the President Wladimir PutinShe could be slowly poisoned in prison.

What happened: A speaker for Navalny said he had severe stomach pains in prison and “we cannot rule out the idea that he is being poisoned,” Reuters reported.

Kira YarmyshHis spokeswoman said an ambulance was called to Navalny on Friday night, in the high-security IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, some 250 km east of Moscow. where he is being held.

Navalny spokesman Yarmysh said the opposition leader could not eat the food provided by the prison as it aggravated his pain and that he had been banned from buying outside groceries since Monday.

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According to Yarmysh, Navalny refrains from eating anything because he is not allowed to receive food parcels or buy groceries from the prison store, and the food provided to him by the prison makes his stomach ache worse.

“His health is not in a good state,” Yarmysh said, adding: “We cannot rule out that he will be poisoned, not in a large dose as before, but in small ones, so that he does not die immediately but that he suffers and his.” ruined health.”

Although the spokeswoman said that there is no definitive proof of the poisoning theory, Navalny has never had stomach pains like this.

Navalny, a staunch opponent of Putin’s war in Ukraine, is serving sentences totaling over 11 years on charges of fraud, contempt of court and probation violations – all he denies as fabricated charges – following his March conviction.

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