Putin foe Alexei Navalny says he’s facing life in hellish gulag amid fears he’s being ‘slowly poisoned by Vlad’
VLADIMIR Putin’s foe Alexei Navalny has revealed he may be facing a life sentence in a hellish Russian prison.
The Russian opposition leader, 46, voiced his newfound worries about extremism and terrorism charges in a video link from Melekhovo prison.
Navalny is currently serving time at the hellish gulag about 155 miles north of Moscow, where it is claimed he is being silenced by the Kremlin.
His most recent video interview comes after he suffered mystery stomach aches, seizures and lost 18lbs in less than a month – sparking fears of a slow poisoning.
Navalny claimed he now faces extremism charges, which could tack an additional 30 years on his sentence.
He also said an investigator told him he faces trial over terrorism charges which could see him imprisoned for life.
Navalny is currently serving sentences totalling more than 11 years on charges including fraud and contempt of court.
Speaking from prison, Navalny sarcastically said: “I’m conducting terror attacks while sitting in prison.
“They have brought absurd charges against me, according to which I am facing up to 35 years.”
After he was jailed in February 2021, the European Court of Human Rights ruled he should be freed immediately because of the risk to his life, but Russia rejected the decision.
In 2020, a hit squad from Putin’s FSB secret police sought to kill Navalny by spiking his underwear with chemical warfare agent Novichok.
In January, dozens of Russian doctors signed an open letter urging Putin “to stop abusing” Navalny.
They also demanded he be given a “full examination” and access to proper medical treatment.
Last year, Putin locked Navalny in an “isolation closet” days after the opposition leader’s team shared a list of 200 pro-Kremlin warmongers.
The list of 200 names is part of a wider “List of 6,000” Putin accomplices and Russian war enablers.
The list was drawn up at the request of the British Foreign Office.
At the time he said: “They let me out Sunday night, and Monday afternoon they locked me up again, making no secret of the fact that I won’t be getting out of this hole again.
“The SHU is obviously a hellish closet and is utterly unpleasant.”
In June, Navalny was moved to Melekhovo as part of the start of the 45-year-old’s nine-year sentence in a case that opposition supporters and the West have described as politically motivated.