MOSCOW | Relatives of Alexei Navalny on Saturday described Russian authorities as “murderers” who wanted to “cover their tracks” by refusing to hand over his body. Despite accusations from the West and rallies in honor of its opponent, the Kremlin remains silent.
• Also read: Around a hundred people were arrested at rallies for Navalny
• Also read: Navalny: poisoned, imprisoned and died under Putin
Despite heavy repression and warnings, hundreds of Russians took part in small rallies in several cities on Saturday to remember this famous Kremlin critic, who died the day before at the age of 47 in a prison in the Russian Arctic. According to the specialized non-governmental organization OVD-Info, the police have made 231 arrests in these events since Friday.
The authorities are on alert, a month before the presidential election in which Putin was expected to be reappointed in the absence of any opposition.
Alexei Navalny's team said authorities are refusing to return his mother's remains, saying the cause of death has not been established.
“It is obvious that the murderers want to cover their tracks. “That’s why they don’t hand over Alexei’s body or even hide it from his mother,” she wrote on Telegram.
A lawyer for the opponent who visited the investigators was informed that “a new histological examination would be carried out [avait] carried out” and that the results “should be announced next week,” wrote the deceased’s spokeswoman, Kira Iarmich.
“It is obvious that they are lying and doing everything to avoid handing over the body,” she added.
The spokesman said in an online video that the opponent's mother, Lyoudmila Navalnaïa, went with a lawyer to the IK-3 penal colony in the Arctic Yamal region on Saturday and that an “official document” confirming the death was presented had become to him.
“Alexei Navalny was killed,” said Ms. Iarmich, who like many opponents went into exile to avoid prison. “His death occurred on February 16 at 2:17 p.m. local time, according to the official document.”
Lapidary
Russian prison authorities announced in a terse press release on Friday that the famous activist, who had been imprisoned for three years, had died in the penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence.
The 47-year-old, whose health had been weakened by the poisoning and his imprisonment, “felt bad after a walk” and “lost consciousness,” they said. They assured that everything had been done to revive him and that the causes of death were “in the process of being determined”.
Since then, no details have been leaked and Vladimir Putin has not said a word about the disappearance of this important political figure, a death that comes a month before the March 15-17 presidential elections that will see the Kremlin's master renewed in the absence of any Opposition.
This has been decimated by repression, particularly since the start of Russia's attack on Ukraine two years ago.
For their part, Western countries denounced with one voice the “responsibility” of the Russian regime.
The “scandalized” American President Joe Biden accused his Russian counterpart of “responsibility”. A message that has been made clear by all Western leaders.
So many accusations that the Kremlin ruled on Friday that it was “completely unacceptable.”
Vladimir Putin remains silent even though he has been informed. On Saturday he appeared on television at an event organized by the gas company Gazprom.
“Do not give up”
However, the Kremlin's ally, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, did not comment on this “internal matter of Russia.”
While the Russian authorities remain silent about the circumstances of the opponent's death and the state media hardly mentions his death, they have nevertheless warned the population against any demonstration.
Despite arrests, Russians marched in several cities on Saturday to lay flowers, particularly at monuments commemorating dissidents who fell victim to political repression during the Soviet era.
On Saturday afternoon, around fifteen Muscovites were arrested by police at a gathering at the foot of a monument commemorating Soviet oppression, the independent Russian media Sota reported.
Shortly afterwards, AFP journalists witnessed another arrest there. But in the early afternoon, under strict police surveillance, onlookers managed to approach the monument by leaving flowers and messages there.
“Don’t give up!”, “We will never forget, we will never surrender, Russia will be free,” read the leaves scattered among the flowers at the foot of the “Mourning Wall” near Sakharov Square Avenue, a traditional location for opposition meetings and a thoroughfare named after a famous Soviet dissident.
“In good health”
Alexei Navalny served a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism” in a remote penal colony in the Arctic under very difficult conditions. The trials brought against him were widely condemned as punishment for his opposition to Vladimir Putin.
On Thursday, the opponent attended two hearings in a court in the Vladimir region via video and did not complain about his health, state news agency Ria Novosti reported.
His mother said in a Facebook post quoted by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta that she had seen her son “in good health and spirits” on Monday.
His disappearance deprives an opposition of its figurehead, drained of blood after years of repression.
repression
Prison had not dampened Alexei Navalny's resolve. During his court hearings and in the messages spread by his team, he never stopped insulting Vladimir Putin.
At his trial for “extremism,” he castigated “the stupidest and most senseless war of the 21st century,” referring to the Russian offensive against Ukraine that began on February 24, 2022.
And in a message distributed by his team on February 1, the opponent called for demonstrations across Russia during the presidential election.
Many opponents have been imprisoned or driven into exile in recent years, and repression has increased further since 2022.