Putin critic Navalny’s body ‘missing’ – 2024-02-19 06:44:09

Russian opposition leader and staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin, Alexei Navalny, has died ‘mysteriously’ in prison. Jail authorities said that his body was kept in the morgue after his death. But Navalny’s party claims that the opposition leader’s body is not in the morgue.

News agency AFP reported that on Saturday (February 17), Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila, went to the mortuary in the city of Salekhard, the late leader’s lawyer.

Navalny’s team said on the Telegram app that prison authorities said the morgue was open and Navalny’s body was there. But actually the morgue was closed.

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Navalny’s lawyer then called a phone number written on the door of the morgue and was told that the body was not in the morgue.

Supporters of the late leader demanded immediate return of the body to his family. The Russian government says it is investigating Navalny’s ‘sudden’ death while in prison.

Alexey Navalny died suddenly and mysteriously last Friday. Al-Jazeera reported on the Prison Service that during a walk around the prison, Navalny suddenly felt ill and at one point fainted. At that time, the medical team came with an ambulance. Doctors declared his death soon after the incident. However, the exact cause of death is not clear.

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A Russian court earlier sentenced Navalny to 19 years in prison. The anti-Putin leader was imprisoned in Kharp IK-3 penal colony, about 1,900 kilometers northeast of Moscow. It is considered to be the worst prison in Russia. Most of the prisoners held there have been convicted of serious crimes.

Navalny was considered the only opposition leader in Russia who was able to mobilize large numbers of people across Russia to participate in anti-government protests. He was poisoned in Siberia in 2020. But Navalny barely survived that journey.

Sources: AFP, NDTV
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