Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Russian public officials signed an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin demanding better conditions for imprisoned opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
"We, Russian deputies, represent citizens from different regions and cities of our country. Our voters include supporters of Alexei Navalny, who over the years have supported his political activists and fight against corruption," reads the text of the letter from more than a dozen Russian officials posted to Facebook on Wednesday.
The signatories demanded the government "stop making unfounded disciplinary claims aimed at creating unbearable conditions of detention" and "conduct a public and vocal supervisory inspection of the reality of actions related to the threat of Alexei Navalny's right to life."
The letter also demanded that "if evidence is available" he be urgently sent to "a civil hospital for full examination and treatment."
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Earlier this month Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, raised concerns about her husband's health in captivity.
"In a letter dated Jan. 2, he writes me that he is ill. That is, he has a temperature for more than a week that is, for over a week he is not allowed to lie down during the day, despite the high temperature. They don't treat and purposely deteriorate the conditions of maintenance," she wrote in an Instagram post on Jan. 11.
Navalny survived an assassination attempt with Novichok nerve poison in August 2020. An investigation by multiple news outlets identified members of the Russian Federal Security Service as the attempted assassins.
After returning to Russia in January 2021, Navalny was arrested for alleged parole violations and sentenced to two and a half years in a labor colony. In March 2022 he was given an additional 9-year sentence for embezzlement and contempt of court.
Both trials were condemned by international human rights organizations.
The open letter from Russian officials called into question the legality of Navalny's detention.
"Beyond the dubious charges and the unjustifiable severity of punishment for a person who did not commit crimes of violence, we cannot ignore Alex's illegal disciplinary action," reads the letter.
The letter also took aim at the Russian government's criminalization of anti-war protests and statements.
"Today, the residents of our Motherland are deprived of the right to protest," they wrote.
"Even expressing one's opinion on the internet is associated with high risks of persecution, administrative and criminal. Therefore, it seems to you that everything is fine -- no one is protesting, everyone is silent. We are not keeping quiet."
