Alexei Navalny's health deteriorating in prison, claim his lawyers

Russia's top opposition leader Alexei Navalny's lawyers and ally on Wednesday expressed concerns over his deteriorating health in prison, saying he is experiencing leg numbness and back pain.  

The jailed Kremlin critic began feeling serious back pain last week, and later experienced numbness in his leg and was unable to stand on it, his close ally Leonid Volkov said, as reported by news agency Reuters.  

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He also said that Navalny had only been given two pills of Ibuprofen to get some respite. 

Olga Mikhailova, one of the lawyers representing Navalny, also confirmed that he complained recently of strong back pain and his leg went numb this week, reports news agency AFP. 

The lawyer added that a neurologist was unable to diagnose the Kremlin critic's problem and simply gave Ibuprofen. 

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"That's all his treatment," Mikhailova said, suggesting that the pill did not ease out Navalny's pain. 

"I don't know what's wrong with him. He should be seen by a proper doctor." 

Maria Pevchikh, chief of investigations at Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation also expressed her concern on Twitter over the deterioration of health, saying "his life is in danger". 

"We believe that Navalny's life is in danger and demand immediate access to him for his lawyers," Pevchikh wrote on Twitter. 

Volkov also claimed that the prison administration might be covering up the worsening of Navalny's health and he might have been shifted to a prison infirmary.