Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been discharged 32 days after being admitted to a hospital in Germany for poisoning. Navalny was kept in an induced-coma for two weeks as he was treated with an antidote for nerve agent Novichok.
Navalny became gravely ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow after being poisoned on August 20. He was initially hospitalised in the city of Omsk and taken to a hospital in Berlin’s Charité Hospital two days later. "Alexei Navalny has been receiving treatment at Charité for a total of 32 days, of which 24 days were spent in intensive care," a statement from the hospital was quoted in CNN.
Navalny posted a picture of himself on social media with a message saying doctors had given him every chance of a full recovery. Navalny, an activist and lawyer, is said to have been poisoned because of his political stance. While Kremlin has staunchly denied any involvement, Navalny’s team alleges he was poisoned on the orders of President Putin.
French newspaper Le Monde reported that in a telephone call with President Emmanuel Macron on September 14, Putin had spoken "with contempt about Alexei Navalny, considering him a simple internet troublemaker who had simulated diseases in the past".
Multiple Russian dissidents have been poisoned in the past. Novichok was used for poisoning Russian spy Sergei Skripal in March 2018 in Salisbury, a city in the UK.
