Russia: Everything To Know About Alexei Navalny's Death (image@Kira_Yarmysh)
Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s known domestic foe, died on February 16 at Arctic prison. He was serving a three-decade prison term. His death was announced by the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.
According to the Penitentiary Service, Navalny felt unwell after a walk, “all necessary measures were carried out, which did not give positive results. Doctors of the ambulance stated the death of the convict. The causes of death are being established”.
No other details of the death of Navalny’s death have been revealed. His wife, Yulia said that she did know whether or not to believe the news because of what she said were the lies of Russia. She made the comment few hours after the news of Navalny’s death was announced.
On 17th February, Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh confirmed the death. The spokeswoman said that the 69-year-old mother of Navalny, Lyudmila, was given a notice of death, in which the time of the death was recorded as 2:17 pm on February 16.
Ivan Zhdanov, who directs Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation said that Navalny’s mother and his lawyer was told the cause of the death to be ‘sudden death syndrome’. Sudden death syndrome is a vague term given to different cardiac syndromes that cause sudden cardiac arrest and death.
However, it was unclear that where the body was. The mother was told that Navalny’s body had been taken to morgue in Salekhard, a town near the prison complex. When she arrived at the morgue, it was closed. When Navalny’s lawyer contacted the morgue, it said it did not have Navalny’s body, said Kira Yarmysh.
The latest report suggest that Navalny’s body was found in the Morgue with bruises. Unknown sources told independent news outlet, that the body had “signs of bruises”.
Later, officials told the Navalny’s mother that the body will not be handed over until the investigation was over. It is to note that earlier she had been told that the investigation had discovered no traces of criminality.
An employee at the morgue told Reuters that Navalny’s body did not reach the morgue. Novaya Gazeta, Russian newspaper cited an unidentified source as saying that the body has been taken to morgue at the Salekhard District Clinical Hospital. The newspaper said that the body showed no signs of bruising consistent with some sort of seizure as well as traces of heart massage attempts. The newspaper also said it was unclear why his heart stopped.
Navalny’s death shocked Russia and crushed hopes of many who saw the future Russian leader in him. The authorities in Russia cracked down on people who mourn Navalny’s death. Over 400 individuals were detained from different parts of Russia, as per media report.
