Saturday April 24th 2021
Demand to release Navalny
German experts appeal to Putin
German Russia experts write to Putin and demand that Kremlin critic Navalny be released. He now wants to end his hunger strike. Russian doctors had warned that otherwise it could cost him his life.
German Russia experts demand the release of the Kremlin opponent Alexej Navalny. In a letter to the Russian head of state Vladimir Putin, the scholars and cultural workers write, “Mr. President, we appeal to you and the responsible authorities of the Russian Federation to release Mr. Navalnyj from custody.” It also said that as long as Navalny was in custody, he should “be allowed to be treated by independent doctors of his choice”.
“We have devoted our professional work in science and research, culture and the media to Russia in order to improve relations between our societies through education and cooperation,” the experts write. “We are deeply concerned about Alexei Navalnyj and fear that his fate will deepen the alienation between our societies.” Among the more than 50 first signatories of the appeal are the President of the German Society for Eastern European Studies, Ruprecht Polenz, and Martin Aust, Chairman of the Association of Eastern European Historians.
The authors point out that the European Court of Human Rights asked Russia in February to release Navalny from custody. After he had barely survived an attack with a neurotoxin thanks to treatment at the Charité in Berlin, the opposition member was arrested at the airport after his return to Russia and sentenced to camp detention by a court.
Doctors warned of Navalny’s death
Navalny started a hunger strike three weeks ago, and on Thursday his doctors wrote an open letter to him to appeal to him to eat again. Otherwise, in the worst case scenario, his refusal to eat could lead to death, warned the doctors. On Friday, Navalny announced on Instagram that he would begin the exit from the hunger strike.
However, he said that with this step he did not give up his demand for independent care by civilian doctors. Even before his hunger strike, Navalny complained that parts of his hands and legs were losing feeling. According to his own statements, the prominent prisoner suffers from a pinched nerve in his back. The Russian penal system, on the other hand, has now described his state of health as “satisfactory”.
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