Kremlin critic, 47, died in Arctic prison on Friday (file photo)
Moscow:
Supporters of Alexei Navalny on Saturday accused Russian authorities of being a “killer” who refused to hand over Navalny’s body to “cover their tracks” despite Western accusations and accusations against the man. Tributes poured in for the late opposition leader, but the Kremlin remained silent.
The 47-year-old Kremlin critic died in an Arctic prison on Friday after more than three years in prison, sparking anger and condemnation from Western leaders and their supporters.
His death, which the West blamed on the Kremlin, leaves the Russian opposition without its figurehead just a month before elections are set to expand the power of President Vladimir Putin.
On Saturday, Navalny’s mother Lyudmila and his lawyers were denied access to his body after arriving at the remote prison area where he was being held, his spokesman Kira Yarmysh said .
“It is clear that the murderer wanted to cover his tracks and therefore would not hand over Alexei’s body and even hid it from his mother,” Navalny’s team posted on Telegram.
Russian police acted quickly on Saturday to break up small protests and commemorations honoring the late Kremlin critic.
The human rights group OVD-Info said they arrested more than 340 people in 30 cities.
In the capital, Moscow, AFP reporters saw two people detained during an impromptu memorial service in central Moscow, where hundreds of tearful mourners laid flowers in the snow.
“The death of Alexei Navalny is the worst thing that can happen to Russia,” a note left among the flowers read.
Putin is “responsible”
After initially rejecting accusations that they were responsible, the Kremlin made no mention of his death on Saturday, despite an angry chorus of condemnation from Western leaders.
A minute’s silence was observed for the leader at the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Munich on Saturday, while US President Joe Biden blamed Putin.
“There is no doubt that Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” he said on Friday.
Hours after news broke of her husband’s death, Yulia Navalnaya, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, said Putin and his entourage would be punished “for what they did to our country, my family and my husband.” be punished for everything.”
She called on the international community to “unite to defeat this evil, horrific regime.”
Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov said Navalny’s death was “murder” and that he had been “tortured and tortured” during the three years he spent in prison.
Tributes continued to pour in on Saturday, with supporters staging anti-Putin protests and setting up monuments to Navalny at Russian diplomatic missions around the world.
In Russia, police detained hundreds of people who laid flowers at a memorial to victims of political repression, human rights groups said.
In a video posted by independent media outlet Sota in the capital Moscow, a woman can be heard screaming as she is forcibly detained by a group of police officers, with onlookers shouting “shame”.
Another photo showed a group of plainclothes men picking flowers at a monument opposite the Soviet secret police headquarters while police cordoned off the area.
On a bridge next to the Kremlin, masked men were seen scooping flowers into garbage bags placed at an unofficial memorial to Navalny ally and late Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov superior.
A Russian federal prison said on Friday that the Kremlin critic died after “feeling ill after a walk” and losing consciousness.
One of Navalny’s lawyers, Leonid Solovyov, told Novaya Gazeta that he was “normal” when another lawyer saw him on Wednesday.
In a video of Thursday’s court hearing at his prison colony, Navalny could be seen smiling and joking as he addressed the judge via video link.
‘I’m not afraid’
Navalny has led street protests for more than a decade and became a household name through his anti-corruption campaign.
Despite tough anti-protest laws, exposés of official corruption he posted on his YouTube channel garnered millions of views and led tens of thousands of Russians to take to the streets.
He was jailed in early 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was subjected to a near-fatal poisoning attack with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.
Subsequent investigations by his team and multiple media outlets alleged that Russia’s FSB strike team was behind the attack.
Upon his return, he was hit with a series of charges, including a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism” that was widely condemned by human rights groups and seen in the West as retaliation for his opposition to the Kremlin.
His decision to return to Russia, despite knowing he faced jail time, won him global admiration.
“I am not afraid and I call on you not to be afraid either,” he said in an appeal to supporters on his arrival in Moscow, before being detained on charges related to an old fraud conviction.
His arrest sparked the largest demonstrations in Russia in decades, with thousands of people detained at rallies across the country calling for his release.
“do nothing”
In prison, Navalny staunchly opposed Moscow’s full-scale military offensive in Ukraine and was forced to watch as the Kremlin dismantled his organization and imprisoned his allies.
Dozens of his senior supporters have gone into exile and continue to oppose the offensive in Ukraine and the crackdown in Russia.
Late last year, Navalny was transferred to a remote Arctic prison colony nicknamed “Polar Wolf” in the Yamal-Nenets region of northern Siberia, Russia.
He said in January that his daily routine included walking around the jail in freezing temperatures.
Since his incarceration, he has spent more than 300 days in solitary confinement, where prison authorities have detained him for alleged minor violations.
Navalny’s last post on his Telegram channel through Lawyers and Team in Exile was posted on Valentine’s Day, paying tribute to his wife.
In a documentary filmed before returning to Russia, Navalny was asked what message he would like to leave to the Russian people if he died or was killed.
“Don’t give up. You can’t, you can’t give up,” he said.
“As long as good people do nothing, evil can win. So don’t do nothing.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
