A lawyer who represented late opposition politician Alexei Navalny and accompanied his mother last week when she asked authorities to return his body was arrested in Moscow today, Russian news media reported.
The arrest of Vasily Dubkov for “violation of public order” was first reported by the independent Russian news agency Novaya Gazeta Europe, although Russian authorities have not yet confirmed the lawyer's arrest.
Dubkov has since been released and told the independent Verstka news agency that he did not want to comment specifically on the reasons for his detention, but said it was an obstacle to his work as a lawyer.
He played a key role in efforts to get Alexei Navalny's body back from Russian authorities after he died on February 16 at the IK-3 penal colony in Siberia after falling ill while taking a walk.
Russian authorities refused to release his body so his grieving mother Lyudmila could bury him unless she agreed to bury him in a private ceremony.
Dubkov accompanied Lyudmila to several meetings with the Russian Investigative Committee in the days after the dissident's death, which many around the world have blamed on the Kremlin.
Vasily Dubkov (pictured) played a key role in efforts to get Alexei Navalny's body back from Russian authorities
Alexei Navalny (pictured left) died on February 16 in the IK-3 penal colony in Siberia after becoming ill while taking a walk
Vladimir Putin (pictured) is accused of orchestrating Navalny's death
Lyudmila said she told Russian authorities that they were obliged to return her son's body because it had already begun to decompose.
“Time is not on your side, bodies are decomposing,” she warned investigators.
Navalny is now expected to be buried this week in a plot at Borisov Cemetery in southeast Moscow, right next to the Moskva River.
Armed guards stood outside the cemetery today, apparently in preparation for an expected expression of condolence for the family of the dead dissident.
The allies said Monday that Navalny was scheduled to be released in a prisoner swap but was killed a day before his release.
Maria Pevchikh, a long-time confidante, said in a YouTube video: “Navalny should have been out in the next few days because we have made a decision about his replacement.”
“At the beginning of February, Putin was offered to exchange the murderer, FSB officer Vadim Krasikov, who is serving a prison sentence for a murder in Berlin, for two American citizens and Alexei Navalny.”
A federal government spokesman said on Monday that Germany was aware of reports of the reported swap but could not comment.
Pevchikh also claimed that former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich acted as an “informal negotiator” who worked with American and European officials.
Russian police officers guard the area near the fence of Borissov Cemetery, where Alexei Navalny is scheduled to be buried this week
Today there were guards at the cemetery gate
Lyudmila Navalnaya, the mother of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (pictured left), and lawyer Vasily Dubkov arrive at the regional branch of the Russian Investigative Committee in the city of Salekhard
Russian authorities refused to release his body so his grieving mother Lyudmila could bury him unless she agreed to bury him in a private ceremony
'At the same time, [he represented] Putin [as]an unofficial channel of communication with the Kremlin.”
Other allies claimed they had been unable to find a place in Russia where people could pay their respects to Navalny.
Kira Yarmysh said on Tuesday: “Since yesterday we have been looking for a place where we can say goodbye to Alexei.” We have visited most private and public funeral homes, commercial establishments and funeral halls.
“Some places say the room is occupied, others refuse to mention the name “Navalny.” At one point we were told straight away that funeral directors were banned from working with us.'
Navalny had been detained since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recovering in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. He has since received three prison sentences on charges he dismissed as politically motivated.
About 400 people have been arrested across Russia since Navalny's death as they tried to pay tribute to him with flowers and candles, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political arrests.
Authorities cordoned off some memorials to victims of Soviet repression across the country that served as sites for makeshift memorials to Navalny.
Since Navalny's death, about 400 people have been arrested across Russia as they tried to pay tribute to him with flowers and candles
This photo, taken from a video, shows a view of the IK-3 prison colony in the town of Charp in the Yamalo-Nenetsk region, about 1,900 kilometers northeast of Moscow
People lay flowers near the Monument to Political Prisoners in St. Petersburg following the death of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny can be seen via video link in a courtroom in Moscow
At night the police removed the flowers, but new ones keep appearing.
Peskov said police acted “in accordance with the law” by arresting people who paid tribute to Navalny.
More than 60,000 people have applied to the government to hand over Navalny's remains to his relatives, OVD-Info said.
After the latest verdict, which resulted in a 19-year prison sentence, Navalny said he understood that he was “serving a life sentence measured by the length of my life or the lifespan of this regime.”
In a video released last week, his widow Yulia said: “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 shows me that I have no right to give up.”
“I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny,” Navalnaya said.
With Navalny's death, the Russian opposition has lost its best-known and inspirational politician, less than a month before an election that will almost certainly give Putin another six years in power.
Many Russians saw in Navalny a rare hope for political change given the Russian president's relentless crackdown on the opposition.
Continue.