Alexei Navalny, Russia’s best-known opposition politician, is suffering from a mysterious ailment while in prison, which may be the result of a slow-acting poison, as his body weight dropped 8kg in about two weeks, the his representative.

An ambulance was called to the IK-6 maximum security prison colony in Melekovo, about 250 kilometers east of Moscow, where Navalny is being held, on Friday night into Saturday, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmish told Reuters.

She said Navalny was suffering from severe stomach pains and could not eat the food provided to him in prison because it aggravated his pain, and since Monday he has been banned from buying alternative food.

“He is not eating anything because he is not allowed to receive food parcels or buy food from the prison store, and the food provided to him by the prison actually worsens his stomach pain,” Jarmis said in English.

“His health is not good,” she said. “We cannot rule out the idea that he has been poisoned, not with a large dose as in the past, but with small doses so that he does not die immediately but is made to suffer and his health is destroyed.”

Jarmis said there is no definitive proof of the poisoning theory, but she has never had stomach pains like this before. She also said that she is worried about him because she has not been in contact with him and that he does not have the required medical care.

The Kremlin, when asked about claims that Navalny may be slowly being poisoned, said it was not monitoring his health and it was a matter for the Federal Prison Service.

The Federal Prison Service, which has previously denied allegations that its employees mistreated Navalny and has said it has always provided him with the medical care he required, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Navalny, who is serving a total of 11.5 years in prison for fraud and contempt of court and says the charges are designed to silence him, said on Twitter on Tuesday that he had been moved back to solitary confinement and forced to endures “extreme hellish conditions”.

Jarmis said Navalny had suffered similar stomach pain in January after being given antibiotics to fight a virus and had again lost a lot of weight.

The German government said yesterday, Wednesday, that it is very concerned about the deterioration of Navalny’s health. Reuters could not independently verify Navalny’s health status.

THE MANDELA OF RUSSIA

Navalny is a former lawyer who rose to prominence more than a decade ago satirizing President Vladimir Putin’s elite and making accusations of large-scale corruption. Navalny’s supporters describe him as a Russian version of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, who will one day be released from prison to lead the country.

Instead, Russian authorities see him and his supporters as extremists, with ties to the US intelligence agency CIA aimed at destabilizing Russia. They have outlawed his movement, forcing many of his supporters to flee abroad.

In 2020, Navalny survived an apparent attempt to poison himself during a flight in Siberia with a nerve agent, tests by Western laboratories revealed. Navalny has accused the Russian state of trying to assassinate him, which Moscow denies.

He himself was hospitalized in Germany to deal with this poisoning but voluntarily returned to Russia in 2021, where he was arrested upon arrival and imprisoned.

Jarmis stated that the drugs sent to Navalny’s prison by his mother were not received by the guards from the post office and were returned. He should be given proper medical treatment, he said.

His supporters have to tussle with prison authorities whenever Navalny has health problems to ensure he receives some kind of treatment, his spokeswoman said.

“He is in complete isolation and we don’t know what is happening to him,” Jarmis said. “I’m really terrified because no one knows what’s going on.”

“Putin has no red lines,” Jarmis said. “He is an innocent man and is in prison only because of Putin’s personal hatred”

Russia says he was found guilty by a court and that allegations of any personal hatred are baseless.