Alexei Navalny’s death has been confirmed officially as investigators demand his body to be given to his family
Lyudmila Navalnaya, Alexei Navalny’s mother travelled to the harsh IK-3 Polar Wolf prison colony in northern Russia after learning of her son’s unexpected death on Friday.
After abruptly falling yesterday, Lyudmila Navalnaya was seen driving a black sedan to the hard camp in the Arctic, where it is thought that her son passed away, according to Daily Mail.
She was dressed in protective gear, including sunglasses and a mask.
According to a paper supplied to her, Navalny passed away on February 16 at 14:17 local time.
This morning, a representative for Navalny confirmed his passing and said his body was being held by investigators.
Later, Navalny’s team claimed that the body was not at the mortuary, despite what the officials had claimed.
Russia has seen a surge of vigils and rallies in response to the unexpected death of Putin’s most vocal opponent, which has forced police to use force and resulted in 15 arrests in Moscow alone.
More than 100 individuals have been held by Russian police at impromptu tributes since word of Navalny’s death broke on Friday, according to OVD-Info, a rights organisation, on Saturday.
Late on Friday, social media images from around Russia showed people congregating to lay flowers at temporary monuments but in some cases, the gathering resulted in police detentions.
As of February 17, “more than 101 people” had already been detained in 10 cities, including 64 in Russia’s second-largest city of Saint Petersburg, OVD-Info said.
Russia’s anti-dissent laws forbid protests, and officials have cracked down especially hard on pro-Navalny demonstrations.
Authorities in the Russian capital issued a warning to residents on Friday, stating that they were aware of calls on the internet “to take part in a mass rally in the middle of Moscow” and that they should not go.
In addition, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a warning to opponents of Putin’s dictatorship at the Munich Security Conference in Germany this morning, prompting Russia to respond forcefully.
