German clinical investigation suggests Moscow protest leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned – hospital statement

Anti-corruption campaigner Alexey Navalny was poisoned, according to doctors at Charite clinic in Berlin. Tests have shown that the protest leader was found with a cholinesterase inhibitor inside his system.

While the exact substance remains unknown, the presence of a cholinesterase inhibitor means long-term effects are possible, particularly to the nervous system, according to a statement from the hospital.

Navalny is in intensive care, where he remains in a medically induced coma. His condition is not currently life threatening.

Cholinesterase inhibitors are chemicals used in drugs for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, but are also found in pesticides and nerve agents.

On Thursday, Navalny was taken to the hospital in Omsk after falling ill on a flight between Tomsk and Moscow. After the plane was forced to make an emergency landing, he was taken to a toxicology intensive care unit, where local doctors called his condition “serious.”

His associates and his wife claimed he had been poisoned and asked that he be transferred to Germany. They eventually appealed directly to the Kremlin, after the medical team treating him in Omsk said a flight risked worsening his health. He was eventually moved to Berlin on Saturday.

After falling ill, Navalny’s supporters hypothesized that he was poisoned at Tomsk Airport, where he was photographed drinking a cup of tea.

Following the announcement, there will now be scrutiny of the results found by the hospital in Omsk, where the test results from two laboratories found no toxic chemical substances. On Thursday, the Kremlin vowed that an investigation would follow if Navalny’s poisoning were to be confirmed.

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