Russian authorities reportedly refuse to release body of opposition leader alexei navalny He died suddenly on February 16th in a POW camp in the Arctic Circle and was delivered to his family.
“It is clear that they are lying and doing everything possible to avoid handing over the bodies,” Navalny’s press secretary Kira Yarmysh said on Sunday.
Yarmish Said Navalny, 47, was “murdered” in prison, but authorities claimed a preliminary investigation into his death found “no crime”.
When Navalny’s mother visited the prison on Saturday, she was told that her son had died of “sudden death syndrome” and that his body had already been sent to Salekhard, the city closest to the harsh and remote prison camp. Mr Navalny’s mother and lawyers went to Salekhard, but were told the morgue was closed and his body had not yet been recovered.
Hours after he survived the escape, Navalny’s family and lawyers were informed that authorities were storing his body pending a full investigation into his death, possibly within the next week, Yarmysh said. The investigation is expected to be completed.
Yarmis said that by refusing to hand over the bodies, authorities are clearly “leading us in circles and covering our tracks.”
Navalny’s wife Yulia released In a nine-minute video message posted over the weekend, she raged against Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, who killed her husband and deprived her two children of a father.
“President Putin did not just kill a person named Alexei Navalny. He tried to kill with him our hopes, freedoms and future,” Yulia Navalnaya said in the video.
Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Alexei Navalny: “We know exactly why President Putin killed Alexei three days ago. We will share this with you soon.”
Yulia said she would continue to fight for Alexei Navalny’s cause and called on other Russians to join her. pic.twitter.com/xymCSiKZrR
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) February 19, 2024
Yulia met Alexei during a vacation in Turkey in 1998. married In 2000, he put his banking career aside to raise his children. Although she has been much more private than her husband until now, she briefly came into the spotlight in January 2021 when she accompanied Alexei on his show. plane to moscow He knew it would end with his arrest.
Navalnaya agreed with Yarmysh that Russian authorities were hiding her husband’s body to hide the circumstances of his death.
“They are telling pathetic lies and waiting for another Putin Novichok trace to disappear there,” she says. Novichok was allegedly used as a chemical weapon in a failed attempt by Russian agents. assassinate Navalny on a flight from Siberia to Moscow in August 2020.
“My husband could not have been shattered. That’s why Putin killed him in the most despicable way. He didn’t even have the courage to look him in the eye and say his name. And now they’re cowardly again. So I hid his body and didn’t show it to his mother or give it to him,” she said.
A day after news of the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a public memorial service (a secular farewell ceremony for the deceased) was held in St. Petersburg near the monument to victims of political repression to commemorate Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. ) was read aloud. (Andrei Bok/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty)
navalnaya Said She intended to continue her husband’s work of exposing corruption in Russia’s elite and breaking President Putin’s autocratic grip on power.
“I shouldn’t have been in this place and I shouldn’t have recorded this video. There should have been another person in my place. But that person was killed by Vladimir Putin.” she said sadly.
“I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia,” she told her husband’s supporters. “Stand next to me. Share this anger with me. Rage, rage, hatred for those who dared to kill our future.”
“President Vladimir Putin killed my husband. By killing Alexei, Putin killed half of me – half of my heart and half of my soul. But I still have the other half. , and it tells me that I have no right to give up. I will continue the work of Mr. Alexei Navalny and continue to fight for the country, ”she declared.
More than 400 arrested in Russia for participating in Navalny commemoration protestshttps://t.co/KqU489oC96
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 18, 2024
Navalnaya said the most important way to honor Alexei’s memory was to fight “harder and harder than before” against Putin and “thieves, thieves and murderers in uniform who have crippled our country.” “Continue,” he said.
Navalnaya said it was abundantly clear why Putin wanted her husband dead, and that soon she and her allies would “find out who exactly carried out this crime and how.” Told.
“I will name your name and reveal your face,” she promised.
Hours after Navalnaya released his video message, met with European Union foreign ministers visited Brussels and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed the “EU’s deepest condolences” over her death.
People lay flowers at the monument to pay their last respects to Alexei Navalny. This monument is a large rock on the Solovetsky Islands, where the first camps of the Gulag Political Prison System were established, and where the historic Federal Security Service (FSB, successor to the Soviet KGB) buildings were also located. Ta. In the background is Moscow, Russia, Saturday morning, February 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlyanichenko)
“Vladimir Putin and his regime will be held responsible for the death of Alexei Navalny,” Borrell promised.
During the EU meeting, Germany proposed additional sanctions against Russia as punishment for Navalny’s death. Borrell suggested freezing the assets of Russian prison staff, the 13th round of EU sanctions against Russia since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2021.
