Section:GDN 1N PaGe:21 Edition Date:190730 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 29/7/2019 18:12 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Tuesday 30 July 2019 The Guardian •
21Shaun Walker
MoscowThe Russian opposition politician
Alexei Navalny was discharged from
hospital and returned to prison
yesterday against the wishes of his
doctor, who said his symptoms may
indicate poisoning.
Navalny was taken to hospital on
Sunday from the Moscow prison where
he was serving a 30-day sentence after
being arrested last week for calling on
people to attend an anti -government
protest. There was no sign that his
life was in immediate danger, but
Anastasia Vasilieva , one of Navalny’s
doctors, said discharging him to prison
could endanger his health.
Vasilieva, an ophthalmologist ,
visited Navalny in hospital on Sunday
and was able to examine him through
a door after fi rst being denied access.
She said his symptoms included facial
swelling, itching and a rash. She said
it was clear he was not suff ering from
an allergy but from “the result of
harmful eff ects of undefi ned chemical
substances”.
“We cannot exclude toxic damage
to the skin by chemicals induced by a
‘third person’,” she wrote. She called
on the hospital administration to
immediately allow proper medical care
for Navalny. Late on Sunday a doctor
at the hospital, Eldar Kazakhmedov,
told the Russian news agency Inter-
fax he believed Navalny was suff ering
an allergic reaction, though he could
not say to what.
Police detained at least 10 ofKate Connolly
BerlinAn eight-year-old boy has died after
he and his mother were deliberately
pushed on to the tracks at Frankfurt’s
main railway station , German police
have said.
The boy was hit by a high -speed
train and killed instantly. His mother
was able to roll into a safe gap and
escaped injury.
The suspect was chased through the
station by passengers who tackled him
to the ground. Police later confi rmed a
40-year-old man of African origin had
been arrested.
The incident happened at about
10am yesterday on platform seven of
the station, which is one of Germany’s
busiest. The boy’s mother was being
treated for shock, a police spokes-
woman said.
“Passengers witnessed the disaster
and ran after the fl eeing man. It was
possible to arrest him while he was still
in the station ,” the spokeswoman said.
She added that the man had intendedNavalny’s supporters who had
gathered outside the hospital , accord-
ing to a correspondent for Russia’s TV
Rain, who was also briefl y arrested
while live on air.
Vasilieva said yesterday the hos-
pital’s behaviour was unhelpful and
suspicious. “The patient himself and
his relatives are not told the diagnosis,
they fi nd it out from Interfax.
“Nobody knows the reason for what
happened and his own doctors are
kicked out. They’re lying to us. The
patient says his eye hurts and they say:
‘He doesn’t need an ophthalmologist.
Let it hurt.’”
Later, she was allowed to examine
him, but said she strongly disagreed
with the hospital’s decision to dis-
charge him back to prison.
Navalny was jailed for promoting
a demonstration against the refusal
of authorities to register independent
candidates for Moscow city council
elections. The protest went ahead
on Saturday and prompted the most
forceful police response in the country
for years , with more than 1,300 people
detained by offi cers.Ailing Russian opposition
leader is sent back to prison
Child dies after
being pushed
on to Frankfurt
railway track
to push a third person on to the track
“but she was able to defend herself ”.
The suspect is believed to be from
Eritrea , according to police. He was
being held in police custody yesterday
but his possible motive remained
unclear. The alleged perpetrator and
the victims are not believed to have
known each other.
Six platforms remained closed for
several hours.
The incident follows the death
nine days ago of a 34-year-old woman
who was pushed in front of a regional
train in Voerde in the western state
of North Rhine-Westphalia in what is
also believed to have been an unpro-
voked attack.
The 28-year-old suspect, who is
of Kosov an-Serbian origin and was
identifi ed only as Jackson B , according
to German police protocol, was known
to police. He is being held in custody
and is not thought to have known the
victim.
Witnesses told police a man had
approached the woman from behind
without speaking and pushed her on
to the track. The suspect has so far
refused to answer questions.
Passengers waiting for trains in Ger-
many are being advised to scan the
platform for distressed or troubled
faces and to stand at least two metres
away from the platform edge.
Unlike in the UK, there are no ticket
barriers at German train stations,
so anyone can get on to a platform
whether or not they have a ticket.▲ Alexei Navalny fell ill in jail, where
he was serving a 30-day sentencemalnutrition rate in the world, with
at least 47% of children suff ering
chronic malnourishment. Rates are
even higher among the country’s 24
indigenous communities, rising to
more than 60% in Camotán.
Since 2016, at least 800 children
under the age of fi ve in Camotán and
the neighbouring municipality of
Jocotán have been diagnosed with
acute malnourishment. (Under -
reporting means the real number is
likely to be signifi cantly higher.)
“The government strategy has
good elements, but in practice it
has been limited to putting out
fi res, dealing with emergencies,
not tackling structural problems
or corruption ,” said Paola Cano,
a nutritionist and public policy
analyst. “Without international aid,
even more people would be dying.”
Ávalos was 13 when she had her
fi rst child. She weighs 6st 6lb (41kg)
and is breastfeeding her seven-
month-old daughter, who weighs
just 9lb. Her two-year-old girl weighs
18lb – her cheeks and stomach are
distended, and her hair is falling
out , classic symptoms of acute
malnutrition. Her fi ve-year-old
girl is just recovering from sudden
weight loss. Sometimes they wake
at night, crying from hunger. “We’re
desperate,” said Ávalos. “There’s no
money and no food.”
Ávalos’s niece died in 2016 aged
three months. Her mother was
unable to produce enough breast
milk, and the family could not aff ord
formula.
“This isn’t poverty – or even
extreme poverty; this is a famine ,”
said Rodimiro Lantán from
Comundich, a Ch’orti’ organisation
helping communities reforest
ancestral lands to prevent forced
migration. Families face a stark
choice: stay and risk starvation or
gamble all on the perilous migrant
trail. “They risk their lives if they
stay – and if they go,” said Lantán.
Juan de Léon Gutiérrez, a 16-year-
old boy from a nearby village, died
at a Texas children’s hospital in April
just days after he was taken into US
immigration custody – one of at least
eight Guatemalan children to have
died shortly after crossing the US
border since May last year.
Est eban Gutiérrez is in tears as
he leaves the family home to meet
a local people smuggler, or coyote,
who may be able to guide him north.
H is godfather has off ered the title
to 3.5 acres of land as a guarantee.
If Gutiérrez makes it to the US, he’ll
pay the $5,000 fee; if he doesn’t, the
coyote will keep the land. “Banks
don’t help people like us,” he says.
He has been told families have a
better chance at the border, so he is
considering taking his nine-year-old
son, Wilson, with him. He knows
taking a chronically malnourished
child on a 2,000-mile journey will be
tough – but he cannot wait: the food
is running out.▲ The climate
crisis has not
been kind to
Camotán, which
has seen drought
and torrential
rain, and where
deforestation
has led to fl oods
and landslides Yasmin Najera
from Camotán
with her seven-
week-old son,
Gerson, who has
a high fever, at
a health centre
in Chiquimula.
Many children
are severely
malnourished
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