Mikhail Kriger. Photo: SOTAvision
Jailed Russian opposition activist Mikhail Kriger, who has been on a hunger strike in prison for nearly a month in protest at his repeated placement in a punishment cell, is currently accepting liquids, his supporters said on Telegram on Thursday.
Kriger, who is serving a seven-year sentence for “justifying terrorism” and “inciting hatred with a threat of violence” for a series of social media posts critical of the war in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin, has alternated between “dry” and “wet” hunger strikes since 25 September. His current “wet” strike means he is refusing food but drinking water and tea with sugar, his supporters said.
Kriger, who has insisted the charges against him are false and politically motivated, has been regularly sent to a punishment cell since August, a move he believes is intended to isolate him from his fellow inmates. He was also refused a planned visit from his daughter earlier in October, after which he maintained a “dry” hunger strike — refusing both food and water — for over a week.
Despite his ordeal, sources close to Kriger report that for now he remains healthy, with a normal blood pressure reading and a blood oxygen saturation level of 98%. The latter is of particular importance, as Kriger suffers from asthma.
Kriger “sends his regards to everyone, and asks people not to worry about him: his health is good and he doesn’t intend on dying”, the support group added.
A prominent Moscow-based opposition activist and former councilman, Kriger has repeatedly participated in anti-Kremlin rallies and openly opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Last week, Shirley Manson, the Scottish lead singer of the rock band Garbage, wrote a letter addressed to the head of the prison colony in which Kriger is incarcerated, demanding that prison authorities allow him to serve his sentence among the general prison population and to grant his daughter permission to visit him.
Manson’s letter was shortly followed by an open letter signed by American actors John Cusack and Martin and Janet Sheen as well as Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek that echoed her pleas.
