Photo shows Alexei Navalny looking gaunt after a 23-day hunger strike in Russian prison

• Alexei Navalny appeared in a Moscow court via video link on Thursday.
• It was the first time he had appeared in public since he went through a hunger strike.
• His hunger strike lasted about 23 days. Doctors had warned that he could die from it.

Alexei Navalny has appeared in public for the first time after going through a hunger strike in Russian prison.

The Russian opposition leader appeared in a Moscow court, via video link from prison, on Thursday.

He could be seen looking gaunt, with a shaved head.

He started a hunger strike from Russian prison on March 31, to protest against his medical conditions in prison, and announced on April 24 that he was "beginning an exit" from the strike. His doctors had warned that he was going to "die any minute" because he had become so weak.

Here's what he looked like months before his hunger strike, in a video released by his team on January 18:

Navalny appeared in the Moscow court on Thursday to appeal an accusation for defaming a World War Two veteran, Reuters and Sky News reported.

He is currently serving a 2 1/2 sentence in prison for skipping parole meetings. His lawyer said he had missed the meetings because he was in Berlin undergoing treatment for nerve-agent poisoning. Navalny has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering the poisoning.