Imprisoned Putin foe Alexei Navalny has lost nearly 18 pounds in just two weeks with a mystery illness as aid workers fear he will be “slowly” killed by poison in a brutal penal colony

Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, is battling a mysterious illness in prison that has caused him to lose nearly 18 pounds in just over two weeks, his spokesman said.

The health problems have led to fears that the Kremlin dissident is being slowly poisoned while being held in a brutal, heavily guarded penal colony in Melekhovo, about 150 miles east of Moscow.

Navalny’s spokesman, Kira Yarmysh, announced serious concerns about his health, adding that he was back in a punishment cell after several days in regular detention.

Navalny reportedly fell ill last Friday when he was taken out of the penalty cell after 15 days and placed in a conventional cell.

An ambulance was called early Saturday due to acute abdominal pain, but Navalny was not diagnosed, one of his lawyers, Vadim Kobzev, wrote on Twitter after visiting him in prison.

Health problems have led to fears that the Kremlin dissident is being slowly poisoned

Navalny gained notoriety more than a decade ago for mocking President Vladimir Putin. Pictured: Putin delivers a speech at a concert celebrating Space Day at the Kremlin State Palace in Moscow, April 12, 2023

“The lawyer says an ambulance was called to Alexey in the night from Friday to Saturday because of acute abdominal pain. No one treats him and they don’t even tell him the diagnosis. He lost 8 kilos(!) in the last 15 days in the punishment cell,” Yarmysh said in a message on Twitter.

When Alexey asks what’s ailing him, the prison doctor mockingly replies that it’s “only spring and everyone has aggravations.”

She added: “We are not ruling out the possibility that he may have been poisoned with something that is slowly but surely deteriorating his health all the time in prison.”

Yarmysh also said that this is the thirteenth time that Navalny has been put in a punishment cell.

Navalny, a former lawyer who gained notoriety more than a decade ago for mocking President Vladimir Putin’s elites and allegations of widespread corruption, has long predicted that Russia could face seismic political turmoil.

In 2020, he survived an apparent attempt to poison him with a nerve agent during a flight in Siberia, which according to Western laboratory tests was. Russia denies that the state tried to kill him.

He was treated in Germany for this poisoning, but voluntarily returned to Russia in 2021, where he was arrested and jailed on arrival in a fraud case he says was politically motivated.

Yarmysh also said that this is the thirteenth time that Navalny has been put in a punishment cell. Pictured: Navalny attends a rally marking the fifth anniversary of the assassination of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in Moscow, February 29, 2020

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses an event celebrating Cosmonaut Day at the Kremlin State Palace on April 12, 2023

The news comes after a video documentary about Navalny won an Oscar last month.

The documentary depicts his career against official corruption, his near-fatal nerve agent poisoning in 2020 that he attributes to the Kremlin, his five-month recovery in Germany and his return to Moscow in 2021, where he was arrested.

He was later sentenced to two and a half years in prison and was convicted on other charges last year and received an additional nine years in prison.

Navalny is subjected to relentless pressure from the Russian authorities and is repeatedly isolated in a small punishment cell. He can write and receive letters and sometimes visit lawyers.

Government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said Berlin had noted “with great concern” reports of Navalny’s deteriorating health.

She added that Germany wanted “the inhumane treatment he appears to be suffering in prison to be lifted” and that the Russian authorities wanted him to have access to medical treatment and to be released.