Russian lawyer and political activist Alexei Navalny, a critic of corruption in Russia and of President Vladimir Putin, has been hospitalized after four days in prison with an “allergic reaction,” as his spokesperson put it.
Navalny was sentenced to 30 days in prison after calling for protest demonstrations on Saturday over the exclusion of opposition candidates from Moscow’s Duma (city council) elections. The protests drew many thousands, and led to the arrest of some 1,300.
Navalny posted an Instagram video saying police arrested him outside his apartment, on his way to buy flowers for his wife’s birthday.
According to the OVD-Info group, an independent monitor tracking Russian police, Navalny was taken from the detention center on Sunday to the Moscow Clinical Hospital No. 64, where he is currently in the therapeutic department. Medical workers refused to tell reporters the reason for the hospitalization.
On July 24, the Simonovsky District Court sent Navalny, the leader of the Russia of the Future party, to a special detention center on charges of violating the rules for organizing a public event. Navalny allegedly used Facebook to call for the action on Saturday, July 27, without filing a notice with the Moscow mayor’s office.
In 2018, Navalny, then leader of the Progress Party, was barred from running for Russia’s presidency.
Ophthalmologist Anastasia Vasilyeva, and cardiologist Yaroslav Ashikhmin visited Navalny in the hospital. Vasilyeva posted on her Facebook page that the politician had marked swelling and sharp hyperaemia of the upper and lower eyelids, as well as around the eyes, a purulent discharge from the right conjunctival cavity, severe itching, and rashes on the neck, back, chest and elbows.
Vasilyeva and Ashikhmin diagnosed Navalny with acute toxic kerato-conjunctivitis, dermatitis and general intoxication. They believe that this is “the result of the damaging effects of unspecified chemicals,” meaning poisoning.