Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader who died in prison, has been denied his body for two weeks. His mother was informed it was being held for “chemical analysis.” Russian authorities have not confirmed the whereabouts of the body, and efforts to locate it have been repeatedly shut down.
Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of the late Russian opposition leader, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing her husband and alleged that his body was kept until traces of poisoning by the nerve agent Novichok had disappeared.
Navalny’s death in prison was announced on Friday, and authorities at the Siberian penal colony where he was being held said he had never regained consciousness after he collapsed following a walk.
His mother and lawyer traveled to the remote colony as news of his death broke. The Kremlin said an investigation into Navalny’s death was ongoing, but there were “no results” as of yet. Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said investigators would not hand over the body for two weeks while they conducted a “chemical analysis”.
Western leaders have put the blame for Navalny’s death squarely on President Putin. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that Navalny had been “slowly murdered in a Russian jail by Putin’s regime.” Both the EU and the US are considering new sanctions on Russia following Navalny’s death, with the UK Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron, expecting Britain and the rest of the G7 group to impose fresh sanctions on any Russians involved in the death.
(BBC)
