- Russian authorities have refused to hand over Alexei Navalny's body and barred his mother and lawyer from entering the prison camp where he died.
- Navalny, the Kremlin's most vocal critic, was previously hospitalized in Germany due to Novichok poisoning.
- He was arrested upon his return to Russia in 2021 and has been imprisoned in arctic conditions in a Siberian prison colony ever since.
MOSCOW – Supporters of Alexei Navalny said Saturday that Russian authorities refused to hand over his body as the Kremlin remained silent despite Western condemnation and a flood of tributes to the late opposition leader. accused him of being a “murderer'' who was “covering his tracks.''
The 47-year-old Kremlin critic died in an Arctic prison on Friday after spending more than three years behind bars, sparking anger and condemnation from Western leaders and supporters.
Watch | Biden: “Make no mistake, President Putin is responsible for Navalny's death.”
His death, which the West blames on the Kremlin, has taken the figurehead of Russia's opposition just a month before elections that will extend President Vladimir Putin's grip on power.
On Saturday, Navalny's mother Lyudmila and his lawyer were denied access to his body after arriving at the remote Siberian prison where he was being held, Kira Yarmysh, his spokeswoman, said.
“It is clear that the perpetrators do not hand over Alexei's body and hide it from his mother because they want to cover their tracks,” Navalny's team said in a Telegram post.
“They do not want to see what methods they used to kill Alexei,” Yarmysh said in an online broadcast, in his supporters' strongest accusation of foul play yet.
Alexei Navalny died after being imprisoned for more than three years in an Arctic prison colony run by Russian authorities.
Across Russia on Saturday, police moved quickly to quell small protests praising Kremlin critics, arresting more than 400 people in 36 cities, rights group OVD-Info said.
“The death of Alexei Navalny is the worst thing that could happen to Russia,” said a note left among flowers at a makeshift memorial in Moscow.
Silence from the Kremlin
Despite a chorus of angry condemnations from Western leaders, the Kremlin, which initially pushed back on accusations that it was responsible, had no comment on his death on Saturday.
A minute's silence was observed for Putin at the G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Munich on Saturday, and US President Joe Biden clearly condemned him.
Putin, 71, has not commented.
In the past, Russian leaders have rarely been asked about their most vocal critics, but they have famously avoided mentioning Mr. Navalny's name.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference hours after news of her husband's death, Yulia Navalnaya said that Putin and his aides “must be punished for everything they have done to our country, my family and my husband.” “It will be done,” he said.
Read | SA remains strangely silent about death of Russian leader, while one leader stands up
She called on the international community to “unite and defeat this evil and horrible regime.”
Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov said Navalny's death was a “murder” and that he had been sentenced to three years in prison for “torture and torture.”
Tributes continued to pour in on Saturday as supporters held anti-Putin protests and pop-up memorials for Navalny around the world.
In a video posted by Moscow's independent Sota media outlet, a woman can be heard screaming as she is detained by a large number of police officers, and onlookers can be heard shouting “disgrace”.
On a bridge next to the Kremlin, hooded men could be seen scooping flowers into garbage bags placed at an unofficial memorial to slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, an ally of Mr. Navalny. It was seen.
Russian courts on Saturday began handing out short-term prison terms of up to 15 days to those detained at commemorations, human rights groups reported.
Russia's Federal Prison Service said Navalny died on Friday after “feeling unwell after taking a walk” and lost consciousness.
One of Navalny's lawyers, Leonid Solovyov, told Novaya Gazeta that Navalny was “normal” when another lawyer saw him on Wednesday.
Footage from a court hearing in prison on Thursday, the day before Mr Navalny died, showed him smiling and joking as he addressed the judge via video link.
Navalny's mother and lawyer were informed on Saturday that he died of “sudden death syndrome,” a vague term with no specific medical meaning.
“That's not the case…that can't be the cause of death,” his spokesman Yarmysh said.
'i'm not afraid'
Navalny has led street protests for more than a decade, becoming famous for his anti-corruption campaign and electric charisma.
Exposés of government corruption posted on his YouTube channel have racked up millions of views and brought tens of thousands of Russians to the streets, despite strict anti-protest laws.
He was jailed in early 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was recovering from near-fatal poisoning with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.
Subsequent investigations by his team and several media outlets announced that a raiding unit of the Russian Federal Security Service was behind the attack.
Upon his return, he faced a series of charges, including a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism,” which was widely condemned by rights groups and seen in Western countries as retaliation for his opposition to the Kremlin.
His decision to return, despite knowing he would be imprisoned, brought him worldwide acclaim.
Just before his arrest, he arrived in Moscow and addressed his supporters:
I am not afraid, and I urge you not to be afraid either.
His arrest sparked the largest demonstrations in Russia in decades, with thousands of people detained at rallies across the country demanding his release.
From prison, Navalny became a staunch opponent of Moscow's all-out military offensive against Ukraine.
He was forced to watch helplessly as the Kremlin dismantled his organization and imprisoned his allies.
“Don't do anything.”
Dozens of his most prominent supporters went into exile and continued to campaign against the attack on Ukraine and the repression inside Russia.
Late last year, Navalny was transferred to a remote prison colony in the Arctic known as “Arctic Wolves” in Russia's Yamalo-Nenets region in northern Siberia.
He said in January that walking through the prison in sub-zero temperatures was a daily routine.
Since his incarceration, he has spent more than 300 days in solitary confinement, detained by prison authorities on suspicion of minor breaches of protocol.
In a documentary filmed before his return to Russia, Navalny was asked what message he would want to leave with the Russian people if he were to die or be killed.
“Don't give up. Don't give up, don't give up,” he said.
“All that is required for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. So don't do anything.”
