A group of UN rights experts expressed alarm Wednesday (21 April) at the deteriorating health of imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and called for his urgent medical evacuation from Russia.
“We believe Mr Navalny’s life is in serious danger,” warned the four independent experts on the issues of freedom of expression, torture, extrajudicial executions and the right to physical and mental health.
They called on Russian authorities to allow Navalny “to be evacuated for urgent medical treatment abroad,” stressing that “the Russian government is accountable for Mr Navalny’s life and health while he is in detention.”
Navalny, who is on hunger strike in a Russian penal colony, has been incarcerated under harsh conditions without adequate medical care and has been barred from seeing doctors of his own choosing, they said.