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The makeshift memorial is decorated with flowers, candles and a photo of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
CNN
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The body of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny should be handed over to his family “immediately”, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on Saturday, accusing Russian authorities of lying to delay the process. He accused him of having been there and said:
The 47-year-old, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died on Friday after becoming unwell and losing consciousness while taking a walk inside the prison, Russian prison authorities said. His cause of death is unknown.
News of his death sparked outrage, with some Western leaders blaming Putin.
Yarmysh said his mother was notified when Navalny's team first confirmed the death.
“Mr. Alexei Navalny was murdered. According to the official message to Alexei's mother, his death occurred on February 16th at 2:17 pm local time,” Yarmysh said in a social media post. Ta.
“We demand that the body of Alexei Navalny be immediately handed over to his family,” Yarmysh said.
The exact location of Navalny's body remains unclear.
Yarmysh said Navalny's mother and lawyer flew to the penal colony where Navalny is being held on Saturday to receive official confirmation of his death.
“They waited for two hours, then a colonial official came out and told them that Alexei Navalny's body was in Salekhard.” [a nearby town]said that investigators from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation have now obtained it and are currently conducting an investigation into it,” Yarmysh said.
Navalny's team wrote on Telegram that the penal colony was closed despite announcing it would be opened, and that Navalny's body was located there.
Late Saturday, Navalny's mother and lawyer went to the town of Salekhard, but when they arrived at the morgue they were told the body was not there, his team said.
Yarmysh said Russia's Investigative Committee informed another of Navalny's lawyers late Saturday that the body would not be released to relatives until the investigation was completed.
“The results will probably be announced next week. It is clear that they are lying and doing everything they can to avoid handing over the body,” she said.
Adding to the confusion, an employee at Salekhard's only morgue told Reuters on Saturday that Navalny's body had not yet arrived.
Navalny posed one of the most serious threats to Putin during his more than two-decade rule. He organized anti-government street protests and used his blog and social media to expose allegations of corruption in the Kremlin and Russian companies.
After returning to Russia from Germany in 2021, he was treated for poisoning with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, but was imprisoned. Upon his arrival, Navalny was arrested on charges he dismissed as politically motivated.
Navalny has been imprisoned ever since, adding to long-standing concerns about his welfare after he was transferred to a penal colony north of the Arctic Circle.
He said he spent his last weeks in a Siberian prison, where he slept under newspapers to keep warm.
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Following news of his death on Friday, Western condemnation of the Kremlin was swift and fierce. US President Joe Biden laid the blame for Mr Navalny's death at the feet of President Putin, but NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia had “serious questions” to answer. said.
Speaking at the Munich Security Council (MSC) on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Putin had sent a “clear message” following Navalny's death.
“After the murder of Alexei Navalny, it is absurd to consider Putin the rightful head of the Russian state,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, called for Mr Putin to be brought to justice.
“I want them to know that they will be punished for what they did to our country, to my family, to my husband,” she said in emotional remarks, speaking to a standing audience at the MSC on Friday. There was an ovation.
On Valentine's Day, two days before Russian authorities announced his death, Navalny posted a message to Yulia on social media.
“Baby, everything is like a song with you. There are cities between us, takeoff lights of airfields, blue snowstorms, and thousands of miles. But I feel you closer every second. I feel you and I love you all the more,” he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: President Putin had been informed of the report and was told that the cause of Navalny's death would be determined by doctors.
More than 100 people have been detained across Russia for attending vigils and rallies since Navalny's death, according to OVD Info, a group that monitors arrests.
People in Moscow laid flowers at the Wall of Sorrow for the second day in a row on Saturday in memory of Navalny, footage broadcast by the independent Telegram channel SOTA said.
About 50 people had gathered at the Wall of Sorrow for a rally before police began to disperse people from the monument, independent news outlet Mojem Obyasnit reported.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
