A girl touches a photograph of Alexei Navalny after laying flowers on the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday.
Dmitri Lovetsky/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
Dmitri Lovetsky/AP
A girl touches a photograph of Alexei Navalny after laying flowers on the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday.
Dmitri Lovetsky/AP
Alexei Navalny’s spokesperson confirmed Saturday that the Russian opposition chief had died at a distant Arctic penal colony, saying he was ”murdered,” however it was unclear the place his physique was as his household and associates looked for solutions.
Navalny’s demise at age 47 has disadvantaged the Russian opposition of its most well-known and galvanizing politician lower than a month earlier than an election that may give President Vladimir Putin one other six years in energy.
Though neither the imprisoned anti-corruption crusader nor different Kremlin critics had been in place to problem Putin for the presidency, the lack of Navalny was a crushing blow to Russians who had pinned their future hopes on Putin’s seemingly indefatigable foe. It additionally prompted questions on what killed him.
A word handed to Navalny’s mom said that he died at 2:17 p.m. Friday, in line with Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh. Jail officers instructed his mom when she arrived on the penal colony Saturday that her son had perished from ”sudden demise syndrome,” Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Basis, wrote on X, previously generally known as Twitter.
A jail colony worker stated the physique was taken to the close by metropolis of Salekhard as a part of a autopsy investigation, Yarmysh stated. When Navalny’s mom and one of many late politician’s legal professionals visited the morgue in Salekhard, it was closed, Navalny’s crew wrote on its Telegram channel. However the lawyer known as the morgue and was instructed the physique was not there, his crew stated.
One other of Navalny’s legal professionals went to Salekhard’s Investigative Committee and was instructed that the reason for Navalny’s demise had not but been established and that new investigations had been being performed with the outcomes to be launched subsequent week, Yarmysh stated. Russia’s Investigative Committee knowledgeable Navalny’s crew that the physique wouldn’t be handed over to his kin till these investigations had been full, she stated.
”It is apparent that they’re mendacity and doing all the things they will to keep away from handing over the physique,” Yarmysh wrote on X, including that his crew demanded that Navalny’s physique ”be handed over to his household instantly.”
Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service reported that Navalny felt sick after a stroll Friday and fell unconscious on the penal colony within the city of Kharp, within the Yamalo-Nenets area about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow. An ambulance arrived, however he could not be revived, the service stated, including that the reason for demise continues to be ”being established.”
Maria Pevchikh, head of the board of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Basis, stated the opposition chief would ”dwell on without end in tens of millions of hearts.”
”Navalny was murdered. We nonetheless do not know the way we’ll carry on residing, however collectively, we’ll consider one thing,” she wrote on X.
Arrests proceed at memorials round Russia
In the meantime, arrests continued Saturday as Russians got here to put flowers in reminiscence of Navalny at memorials to the victims of Soviet-era purges. OVD-Data, a gaggle that displays political repression in Russia, stated Saturday that greater than 273 folks had been detained at memorial occasions since Navalny’s demise.
Memorial gadgets laid Friday had been eliminated in a single day, however folks continued trickling in with flowers on Saturday. In Moscow, a big group of individuals chanted ”disgrace” as police dragged a screaming girl from the gang, video shared on social media confirmed.
Greater than 10 folks had been detained at a memorial in St. Petersburg, together with a priest who got here to conduct a service for Navalny there.
In different cities throughout the nation, police cordoned off a number of the memorials and officers had been taking photos of those that got here and writing down their private information in a transparent intimidation try.
”After the homicide of Alexei Navalny, it is absurd to understand Putin because the supposedly reliable head of the Russian state,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on the Munich Safety Convention in Germany Saturday. ”He’s a thug who maintains energy by corruption and violence.”
U.Okay. vows motion in opposition to Russians liable for Nevalny’s demise
U.Okay. International Secretary David Cameron stated Saturday that Britain ”shall be taking motion” in opposition to the Russians liable for Navalny’s demise.
Chatting with broadcasters in Munich, Cameron stated ”there ought to be penalties” for ”appalling human rights outrages like this.” He stated Britain would ”take a look at whether or not there are particular person folks which might be accountable and whether or not there are particular person measures and actions we will take.” Cameron didn’t say whether or not the response would consist of monetary sanctions or different measures.
U.S. President Joe Biden stated on Friday that Washington would not know precisely what occurred, ”however there isn’t a doubt that the demise of Navalny was a consequence of one thing Putin and his thugs did.”
The Kremlin bristled Friday on the outpouring of anger from world leaders, with Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, calling the statements — issued earlier than medics have launched the reason for Navalny’s demise — ”unacceptable” and ”outrageous.”
Navalny had been jailed since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. He was later convicted thrice, saying every case was politically motivated, and obtained a sentence of 19 years for extremism.
After the final verdict, Navalny stated he understood he was ”serving a life sentence, which is measured by the size of my life or the size of lifetime of this regime.”
Nigel Gould-Davies, a former British ambassador to Belarus and senior fellow for Russia & Eurasia on the Worldwide Institute for Strategic Research in London, stated the lack of Navalny exhibits that ”the sentence in Russia now for opposition just isn’t merely imprisonment, however demise.”
Hours after Navalny’s demise was reported, his spouse, Yulia Navalnaya, made a dramatic look on the Munich convention.
She stated she was uncertain if she might imagine the information from official Russian sources, ”but when that is true, I would like Putin and everybody round Putin, Putin’s associates, his authorities to know that they are going to bear duty for what they did to our nation, to my household and to my husband.”