Rustam Agishev, well-known doctor in Omsk, head of the Department of Traumatology and Orthopedics of hospital BSMP-1, has died according the the hopital’s website at the age of 63. According to local Taiga News outlet, Agishev, suffered a stroke in December 2020. He is the second person who works at this infamous hospital, where Navalny was treated from poisoning after an assassination attempt, to die from a heart attack in the past few months.

In February 2021, Deputy Chief physician for anesthesiology and resuscitation, Sergei Maksimishan, also died from a heart attack at the age of 55. After Maksimishan’s death, Russian state media outlets that avoided mentioning Navalny’s name, all reported Maksimishan’s death, while reminding everyone that Navalny was treated there. This latest case has just been reported in a local news outlet in Omsk and I will monitor the reaction from state media.

Navalny’ s lawyer last week reported that Navalny’s health is deteriorating in the penal colony where he was sentenced and that guards are slowly torturing him with sleep deprivation and other cruel tactics. Navalny was poisoned, from novichok, last summer and flown to Charite hospital, in Germany, for treatment. Upon his return he was arrested and jailed after going through a sham trial with a predetermined outcome. This is very reminiscent to the death of Sergei Magnitsky, murdered while in jail, for blowing the whistle on mass corruption involving the Kremlin.