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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (in Russian: Алексей Анатольевич Навальный), who is serving a sentence in prison, said on "Instagram" that he was placed in solitary confinement for six months, and according to his lawyer, this was an attempt to damage his health, BTA reported.

For the past eight months, the 46-year-old opposition figure has been deprived of the right to see family members.

Navalny's move to an isolated cell means he won't be able to see his wife and child for another six months.

"Even maniacs and serial killers who are serving life sentences have the right to see each other, but I don't," Navalny wrote on Instagram. 

Navalny has vowed to continue defying the Kremlin

His lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, said prison authorities deliberately moved a sick prisoner into a cell with Navalny to infect him with the flu.

The opposition player was then treated with antibiotics, as a result of which he developed stomach problems and lost weight.

Kobzev described the decision to put Navalny in solitary confinement for six months as a "deliberate strategy to destroy his health by all means" and added that such a decision could only be made with the approval of the Kremlin.

Alexei Navalny

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