Naval'nyj movement banned. The interned blogger calls off hunger strike
by Vladimir Rozanskij

The organization of supporters, who were preparing for the elections, branded as "extremist". For doctors, Naval’ny's health situation is of serious concern. They request his admission to medical center in Moscow. Russian staff of American diplomatic offices and also of other Western countries forbidden to "work for the enemy". Putin judges the US "an unfriendly country".


Moscow (AsiaNews) - The prosecutor general yesterday asked in court to ban the activities of the Fund for the Fight against Corruption, comprised of Alexei Navalnyj supporters. The Fund is accused of being an "extremist organization", a definition that in Russia now applies to any reality unwelcome to the government.

The central court of Moscow has not yet taken a final decision, which in any case appears to will be predictable. The group’s activity has been suspended, as confirmed by its director Ivan Ždanov on Telegram Komandy channel 29, dedicated to the electoral campaign of navalnists.

The prosecutor’s request appeals to Article 10 of Law 114 against extremism, the ban on activities also entails the prohibition of "organizing meetings, demonstrations, taking part in electoral campaigns, referendums, using bank accounts, etc.".

Social networks connected to the Naval’nyj group announced that "starting from today, information will no longer be disseminated on these pages. We will soon change our name and become as anonymous as possible, and so it will be for all the sites linked to our electoral groups”.

Over 70 Naval’ny supporters were arrested last weekend (April 24-25). Most of the cases are in connection with the April 21 demonstrations in support of the blogger detained in Vladimir. An exponent of the liberal Yabloko party, Lev Shlossberg of Pskov, has published a list of citizens who have received visits from the police in recent days, stressing that they are only participants in the protest actions in favor of Naval'nyj.

Aleksei Navalnyj himself is still in the prison hospital in the city of Vladimir, and rules of special attention have been applied to him following the "fourteen infractions" of the regulation of the detention camp IK-2 in Pokrov, where the 'Opponent has repeatedly refused to make his bed, or to look at the ground during inspections.

Naval’nyj announced that he had broken the protest fast that began on March 31st, due to his deteriorating health. About 100 people across Russia continue to fast out of solidarity with him, and they are also joined by foreign politicians, cultural figures, Nobel laureates and some Hollywood stars.

After analyzing his medical records, five Navalnyj personal doctors turned to the director of the Federal Prison Service Aleksandr Kalashnikov, asking to "transfer Navalnyy to a multifunctional hospital in the city of Moscow, the center with the greatest the whole of the Russian Federation ". The appeal was published on the Novaya Gazeta website. The doctors justify this request with "the severity of the patient's condition, the long period of fasting and the diagnostic complications that highlight the risks to his life".

Doctors complain that they have not been able to visit the patient directly, although they have been able to consult the medical documents; on April 20, Naval'nyj was examined by a group of civilian doctors from Vladimir.

The doctors who visited him found two spinal hernias, problems with the nerve endings of his legs and liver cysts, as well as a series of abnormalities in blood values. The neurosurgeon advised to proceed with an operation as soon as possible. The conclusions of the analysis read: "We have come to the conclusion that the treatments provided cannot be considered optimal; it is essential to establish a precise diagnosis, to ensure a correct emergence from the fasting condition, and above all to use more contemporary means to deal with the syndromes of joint pain.”

The international controversy over Naval'nyj, together with other problems such as the Ukrainian tension in the Donbass, led President Putin to declare the United States an "unfriendly country". All Russian operators in American diplomatic offices, and also in other Western countries, have been prohibited from "working for the enemy". The US has closed all minor consular offices in various cities of Russia. The Russian government also reserves the right to review the number of diplomatic permits for foreign citizens on the national territory.