Moscow | Alexei Navalny's relatives on Saturday described Russian authorities as “murderers” seeking to “cover their tracks” by refusing to hand over his body. Despite the West's accusations and marches in honor of the opposition, the Kremlin remains silent.
• Read also: About a hundred people were arrested during pro-Navalny rallies
• Read also: Navalny: He was poisoned, imprisoned, and died under Putin
Despite severe repression and warnings, hundreds of Russians participated in small marches, on Saturday, in several cities to honor this famous critic of the Kremlin, who died the previous day at the age of 47 in a prison in the Russian Arctic. Since Friday, police have arrested 231 people during these events, according to the specialized NGO OVD-Info.
The authorities are on alert one month before the presidential elections, which are scheduled to see Putin reappointed in the absence of any opposition.
Alexei Navalny's team said that the authorities refuse to return his mother's remains, claiming that the cause of her death has not been determined.
“It is clear that the killers want to cover their tracks. That is why they did not hand over Alexei’s body, and even hid it from his mother,” she wrote on Telegram.
The opposing lawyer, who came to meet the investigators, informed him that a new histological examination had been conducted [avait] The deceased's spokeswoman, Kira Iarmysh, wrote that the results “should be known next week.”
She added: “They are clearly lying and doing everything they can to avoid having to hand over the body.”
The spokesman noted in an online video that the opponent's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, went on Saturday, with a lawyer, to the IK-3 penal colony in the Arctic region of Yamal, and that an “official document” confirming the death had been delivered. for him.
M saidI Yarmysh, who, like many dissidents, went into exile, escaping from prison. “His death occurred on February 16 at 2:17 p.m. local time, according to the official document.”
Jeweler
On Friday, Russian prison authorities announced in a brief press release that the famous activist, imprisoned for three years, died in the penal colony where he was serving a 19-year prison sentence.
They explained that the 47-year-old man, whose health had been weakened by the poisoning and his imprisonment, would have “felt bad after walking” and would have lost consciousness. They confirmed that everything had been done to resuscitate him and that the causes of death were “in the process of being determined.”
No details have leaked since then, and Vladimir Putin has not said a word about the disappearance of this major political figure, a death that comes one month before the presidential elections on March 15-17, which will see the position of Kremlin master renewed in 2018. Absence of any opposition.
This has been decimated by repression, especially since the Russian attack on Ukraine began two years ago.
For their part, Western countries denounced with one voice the “responsibility” of the Russian regime.
US President Joe Biden, who was “exposed,” accused his Russian counterpart of being “responsible.” It is a message that has been reached by all Western leaders.
Many of the accusations the Kremlin ruled on Friday were “completely unacceptable.”
Vladimir Putin remains silent, despite being informed. He appeared on television at a Gazprom Group event on Saturday.
“Don't give up”
On the other hand, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, an ally of the Kremlin, did not comment on this “Russia’s internal matter.”
Although the Russian authorities were silent about the circumstances of the oppositionist's death, and the official media barely mentioned his death, they warned the population against any demonstration.
Despite the arrests, Russians demonstrated in several cities on Saturday, laying flowers, especially on memorials to dissidents who were victims of political repression during the Soviet era.
At midday on Saturday, police arrested about fifteen Muscovites during a gathering at the foot of a monument commemorating Soviet repression, independent Russian media outlet Sota reported.
Shortly after, AFP journalists witnessed a new arrest there. But in the early afternoon, onlookers, under close police surveillance, were able to approach the memorial by leaving flowers and messages there.
“Don't surrender!”, “We will never forget, we will never surrender, Russia will be free,” one could read on leaves scattered among the flowers at the foot of the “Mourning Wall” near Sakharov Avenue, a traditional place of opposition rallies and a road bearing the name of the Soviet dissident The famous.
“In good health”
Alexei Navalny was serving a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism” in a remote penal colony in the Arctic, in extremely difficult conditions. The trials against him have been widely denounced as a means of punishing him for his opposition to Vladimir Putin.
On Thursday, the opponent participated via video in two sessions before a court in the Vladimir region and did not complain about his health condition, according to the official RIA Novosti news agency.
His mother said that she saw her son on Monday “in good health and in a happy mood,” in a Facebook message reported by the Independent newspaper. Novaya Gazeta.
His disappearance deprives the opposition of its figurehead, who has become cold after years of repression.
respression
Prison did not weaken Alexei Navalny's resolve. During his court hearings and in messages broadcast through his team, he never stopped insulting Vladimir Putin.
At his trial on charges of “extremism,” he strongly criticized “the stupidest and most foolish war of the twenty-first century.”H Century,” referring to the Russian attack on Ukraine that began on February 24, 2022.
And in a message to No. 1any The challenger, which his team broadcast in February, had called for demonstrations across Russia during the presidential election.
Many opponents have been imprisoned or driven into exile in recent years, and repression has increased since 2022.
