Putin's Jailed Critic Navalny Possibly Being Slowly Poisoned, Says Spokeswoman: 'To Suffer And To Ruin His Health'

Jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, could be slowly being poisoned in jail.

What Happened: A spokesperson for Navalny said he is experiencing intense stomach pains in prison and "we can’t rule out the idea that he is being poisoned," reported Reuters.

Kira Yarmysh, his spokeswoman, said an ambulance was called for Navalny on Friday night to the maximum security IK-6 penal colony at Melekhovo, about 250 km east of Moscow, where he is being held.

Navalny’s spokesperson, Yarmysh, said that the opposition leader could not eat the food provided by the prison as it is worsening his pain and that he has been prohibited from purchasing food from outside since Monday.

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According to Yarmysh, Navalny refrains from eating anything because he is not allowed to receive food packages or buy food from the prison store, and the food provided to him by the prison exacerbates his stomach pain.

“His health is not a good condition,” Yarmysh said, adding that “we can’t rule out the idea that he is being poisoned, not in a huge dosage as before, but in small ones so that he doesn’t die immediately but for him to suffer and to ruin his health.”

Although the spokeswoman addressed that there's no definitive proof of the poisoning theory, Navalny never had such stomach pains before.

Navalny, a strong opponent of Putin's war in Ukraine, is serving prison terms totaling over 11 years for fraud, contempt of court, and parole violations after being sentenced in March — all of which he rejects as trumped-up charges.

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