Alexei Navalny’s supporters on Saturday accused Russian authorities of being “killers” who had been “overlaying their tracks” by refusing at hand over his physique, because the Kremlin stayed silent regardless of Western accusations and a flood of tributes to the late opposition chief.
The 47-year-old Kremlin critic died in an Arctic jail on Friday after spending greater than three years behind bars, prompting outrage and condemnation from Western leaders and his supporters.
His demise, which the West has blamed on the Kremlin, deprives Russia’s opposition of its figurehead only a month earlier than elections poised to increase President Vladimir Putin’s grip on energy.
On Saturday, Navalny’s mom, Lyudmila and his lawyer had been refused entry to his physique, after arriving within the area of the distant jail colony the place he had been held, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh stated.
“It is apparent that the killers wish to cowl their tracks and are due to this fact not handing over Alexei’s physique, hiding it even from his mom,” Navalny’s group stated in a put up on Telegram.
Russian police on Saturday moved swiftly to interrupt up small protests and memorials in honour of the deceased Kremlin critic.
They arrested greater than 340 individuals in 30 cities, the OVD-Data rights group stated.
Within the capital Moscow, AFP reporters noticed two individuals being detained at a makeshift tribute in central Moscow, whereas tons of of tearful mourners laid flowers within the snow.
“Alexei Navalny’s demise is the worst factor that would occur to Russia,” stated one word left among the many flowers.
– Putin ‘accountable’ –
After initially pushing again at accusations they had been accountable, the Kremlin made no point out of his demise on Saturday, regardless of an offended refrain of condemnation from Western leaders.
G7 international ministers assembly in Munich held a minute’s silence for the chief on Saturday, whereas US President Joe Biden pointed the blame at Putin.
“Make no mistake, Putin is answerable for Navalny’s demise,” he stated on Friday.
Talking on the Munich Safety Convention hours after information of her husband’s demise, Yulia Navalnaya stated Putin and his entourage can be “punished for all the pieces they’ve achieved to our nation, to my household and to my husband”.
She known as on the worldwide group to “unite and defeat this evil, terrifying regime”.
Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov stated Navalny’s demise was “homicide” and that he was “tortured and tormented” for all the three years he spent in jail.
Tributes continued to pour in on Saturday, as supporters staged anti-Putin protests and arrange memorials to Navalny at Russian diplomatic missions world wide.
In Russia, police detained tons of of people that had laid flowers at monuments to the victims of political repression, rights teams stated.
In a video posted by the unbiased Sota outlet from the capital Moscow, a lady might be heard screaming as a crowd of cops forcefully detained her, to chants of “disgrace” from onlookers.
One other confirmed a bunch of individuals in plain garments eradicating flowers from a monument reverse the previous headquarters of the Soviet secret police, whereas police blocked off the realm.
On a bridge subsequent to the Kremlin, hooded males had been seen scooping up flowers into bin baggage that had been laid at an unofficial memorial to Navalny ally, slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov.
Russia’s federal penitentiary service stated Friday the Kremlin critic had died after he “felt unhealthy after a stroll” and misplaced consciousness.
One among Navalny’s attorneys, Leonid Solovyov, advised the Novaya Gazeta newspaper that he was “regular” when one other lawyer noticed him on Wednesday.
In footage of a courtroom listening to from his jail colony on Thursday, Navalny was seen smiling and joking as he addressed the decide by video hyperlink.
– ‘I am not afraid’ –
Navalny, who led road protests for greater than a decade, turned a family title via his anti-corruption campaigning.
His exposes of official corruption, posted on his YouTube channel, racked up hundreds of thousands of views and introduced tens of hundreds of Russians on to the streets, regardless of harsh anti-protest legal guidelines.
He was jailed in early 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, the place he was recovering from a near-fatal poisoning assault with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent.
A subsequent investigation by his group and a number of other media retailers stated a Russian FSB hit squad was behind the assault.
Upon his return he was hit with a barrage of prices, together with a 19-year jail sentence for “extremism”, broadly condemned by rights teams and seen within the West as retribution for his opposition to the Kremlin.
His determination to return to Russia regardless of figuring out he would face jail introduced him world admiration.
“I am not afraid and I name on you to not be afraid,” he stated in an enchantment to supporters as he landed in Moscow, moments earlier than being detained on prices linked to an outdated fraud conviction.
His arrest spurred a few of the largest demonstrations Russia had seen in many years, and hundreds had been detained at rallies nationwide calling for his launch.
– ‘Do not do nothing’ –
From behind bars, Navalny was a staunch opponent of Moscow’s full-scale navy offensive towards Ukraine and was pressured to observe on, helplessly, because the Kremlin dismantled his organisation and locked up his allies.
Dozens of his high supporters fled into exile and continued to marketing campaign towards the offensive on Ukraine and repression inside Russia.
Late final yr, Navalny was moved to a distant Arctic jail colony nicknamed “Polar Wolf” in Russia’s Yamalo-Nenets area in northern Siberia.
He stated in January that his every day routine included jail walks in freezing temperatures.
Since being jailed, he spent greater than 300 days in solitary confinement, the place jail authorities saved him over alleged minor protocol infringements.
The final put up on Navalny’s Telegram channel, which he managed via his attorneys and group in exile, was a tribute to his spouse posted on Valentine’s Day.
In a documentary filmed earlier than he returned to Russia, Navalny was requested what message he wished to depart to the Russian individuals ought to he die or be killed.
“Do not surrender. You should not, you possibly can’t surrender,” he stated.
“All it takes for evil to triumph is for good individuals to do nothing. Due to this fact, do not do nothing.”
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