Russian authorities say jailed opposition leader Navalny has been transferred to hospital
19 April 2021
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been hospitalized, one day after his doctor warned that the jailed Putin critic "could die at any moment," Russia's prison service said Monday.
Why it matters: News that Navalny's condition had severely deteriorated on the third week of a hunger strike prompted outrage from his supporters and international demands for Russia to provide him with immediate medical treatment.
- "We have communicated to the Russian government that what happens to Mr. Navalny in their custody is their responsibility and they will be held accountable by the international community," White House national security Jake Sullivan said on CNN Sunday.
- Navalny's supporters have called for large-scale protests on April 21, the same day that President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to deliver an annual state of the nation address to the national legislature.
The big picture: Navalny, often described as "the man Putin fears most," was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for violating his parole by receiving medical treatment in Germany, where he was recovering for months after an attempted poisoning.
- U.S. intelligence has determined that Russian security services carried out the attempted assassination, an allegation that Putin has denied.
- The 44-year-old Navalny went on a hunger strike on March 31 in protest of prison authorities allegedly denying him medical treatment for pain and numbness in his back and leg.
The state of play: Russia's prison service said Navalny would be transferred to a hospital for convicts at another penal colony 110 miles east of Moscow, according to AP. His condition was described as “satisfactory,” and he has agreed to take vitamin supplements, according to authorities.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.