The UN's special rapporteur on torture has called on Russia to provide jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny with "urgent and comprehensive" medical care following reports that his health is deteriorating.
"I am distressed by the deteriorating state of Mr. Navalny’s health and the apparent lack of satisfactory diagnosis and medical treatment,” Alice Edwards said in a statement on May 10.
Edwards said the alleged placement of Navalny in solitary confinement 11 times over a seven-month period “appears disproportionate and if confirmed” and would amount to a form of torture.
Navalny's supporters last month said he was suffering from significant stomach pain, which they said could be a sign of a slow-acting poison.
Edwards said Navalny’s ill health includes “chronic spinal disease and problems related to neurological damage.” She demanded he be provided with adequate care, including comprehensive medical checkups, treatment, and monitoring of his health situation in a civilian hospital.
Russia's penitentiary service has previously denied allegations that its employees have mistreated Navalny and has said he has always been granted medical treatment when needed.
Navalny returned to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he had been treated for what Western laboratory tests showed was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in 2020.
The special rapporteur also raised the cases of three political supporters of Navalny who are also in Russian detention -- Liliya Chanysheva, Vadim Ostanin, and Daniel Kholodny.
Edwards said the cases against these individuals should be “promptly, thoroughly, and impartially investigated” and if the findings indicate they have been arbitrarily locked up, they should be released immediately.