People are taking to the streets in Russian cities on Wednesday, 21 April, to attend unauthorised rallies in support of opposition vlogger Alexei Navalny.
The Russian authorities have repeatedly warned that mass gatherings are currently banned amid restrictions imposed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Navalny has been on a hunger strike since 31 March, demanding that his personal doctor be allowed to examine him following his complaints about back pain. The prison service said on Monday that Navalny had been moved to a hospital at another penal colony in the Vladimir region, where he agreed to a glucose drip and was given one on Sunday.
In January, Navalny returned to Moscow from Berlin after receiving medical treatment for an alleged poisoning. The activist was arrested on arrival and referred to a court, which in February rescinded his suspended sentence in the 2014 Yves Rocher fraud case over multiple probation breaches and replaced it with a 3.5-year term behind bars. A Moscow city court reinstated the ruling but reduced the sentence to 2.5 years.
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