More than 80 lawmakers across Russia have signed an open letter demanding Russian President Vladimir Putin stop pressuring jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, who has been placed in punitive solitary confinement several times since August.
The letter, written by Moscow municipal lawmaker Sergei Tsukasov, was posted on Facebook on January 18. Since then, more than 80 lawmakers from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Tomsk, as well as the Tula and Krasnodar regions, have signed the appeal.
The letter demands Putin, the Prosecutor-General's Office, and the presidential Council For Human Rights, immediately provide Navalny with medical assistance and stop placing him in punitive solitary confinement for unfounded reasons.
"It is crystal clear for those who follow Aleksei's ordeal that the goal of constantly placing him in punitive solitary confinement is to create unbearable conditions for him in the penitentiary and inflict damage to his physical and psychological health, as well as pose a danger to his life," the letter says.
"Today, residents of our Motherland are deprived of the right to express their protest. While it is guaranteed by the Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, it has been de facto eliminated by federal laws and resolutions made by regional authorities."
The letter demands an investigation into all disciplinary decisions made by the prison administration regarding Navalny that "posed a danger to his life," and punish all individuals responsible for such decisions.
Over the past month, two similar appeals have been filed by dozens of Russian lawyers and physicians.
Navalny and his lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, have said in recent days that the Kremlin critic has a heavy cough and a fever.
Earlier this week, Navalny marked two years since his arrest. The outspoken Kremlin critic is serving two sentences for violating parole and embezzlement at a prison in the Vladimir region, about 260 kilometers east of Moscow.