Alexey Navalny develops fever and cough as he continues prison hunger strike

Jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny has fever of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38.1 degrees Celsius) and a “bad cough,” according to the latest Instagram update posted on his behalf.

The Instagram post, uploaded on Monday April 5, also states that his penal colony unit has a high incidence of tuberculosis.

“Today, already the third person from my unit has been recently hospitalized with tuberculosis. The unit has 15 people, that means 20 percent of the headcount is sick, this is much higher than the epidemiological threshold. And what? Do you think [emergency services], ambulance sirens are blaring? No one really cares, the bosses are only concerned about the issue of how to hide the statistics.”

The opposition politician also noted that he is continuing his hunger strike. “I have a legally guaranteed right to call a specialist doctor at my own expense,” Navalny underscored.

Update. Later in the day on Monday, the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) told Izvestiya that Alexey Navalny had been moved to the penal colony’s medical unit because he “showed signs of a respiratory illness.”

• Alexey Navalny, who is serving a 2.5 year prison sentence in Pokrov’s Penal Colony No. 2, announced a hunger strike on March 31. He is demanding that a doctor be admitted to the prison colony to examine him, and insists that he isn’t being provided with the medical treatment he needs. The opposition politician has been complaining of pain in his back and legs for several weeks.