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Alexei Navalny: in the sights of the Russian authorities
Photo:
Pavel Golovkin / dpa
The Russian prison service has asked the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to report in person to the authority's office.
Should he return to Russia after the deadline, he faces imprisonment.
The prison authority FSIN announced on Monday.
Navalny was discharged from the hospital on September 20 and has been symptom-free since October 12, according to the statement, with reference to a report in the journal "The Lancet".
That is why Navalny had to report on the spot, according to the probation requirements of a prison sentence to which Navalny was sentenced in 2014.
Navalny, who is recovering from the aftermath of the attack in Germany, published a letter to his lawyer stating that he had to report to an office in Moscow by 9 a.m. today, Tuesday (local time).
A Navalny spokeswoman said this was impossible.
In addition, the opposition continues to suffer from the consequences of his poisoning.
The FSIN is acting at the behest of the Russian government.
As recently as Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskow said, referring to the article: "We do not read any medical publications." Doctors at the Charité in Berlin had listed the symptoms after Navalny's poisoning in detail in "The Lancet".
Collapsed in the plane
Navalny had collapsed on a domestic flight on August 20 and was flown out for treatment in Berlin's Charite after receiving initial treatment in Russia.
According to the federal government, the prominent Putin opponent was poisoned with a neurotoxin from the Novitschok group, which was developed during the Soviet era.
Navalny had repeatedly emphasized that he wanted to return to Russia.
He blames a "killer squad" of the FSB for the poison attack and accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of being the mastermind behind the attack.
Research by SPIEGEL with Bellingcat and other partners had shown that at least eight FSB agents were apparently involved in the poison attack on Alexei Navalny and had followed him for months or years.
Most recently, the recording of a phone call from Navalny with one of the agents clarified: In the conversation Navalny pretended to be a Russian superior of the agent.
He then told, among other things, that the poison had been placed in Navalny's underpants.
The Kremlin continues to deny the allegations to this day.
Russian doctors had only certified Navalny - to the horror of many colleagues - as having a metabolic disorder.
Moscow and the EU imposed sanctions on each other in response to the case.
A prominent supporter of Navalny, the lawyer Lyubow Sobol, was arrested for 48 hours on Friday.
According to official information, they are being investigated for trespassing and threats of violence.
Sobol said the trial against her was a revenge on Navalny.
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